Rissa watched them go. She couldn’t put this off any longer, could she? However much she wanted to, it wasn’t right to lead Thomas on. No, he was going by Serenity now, wasn’t he? It shouldn’t be that hard to remember; they felt like completely different people. It didn’t help any; she thought she might be even more attracted to Serenity than she was to Thomas.

Which only made her feel guilty about abandoning Thomas. He could say that he was still Thomas all he wanted, but he wasn’t. She could tell. He wasn’t her Thomas, and that meant that staying with him without breaking up with Thomas was wrong.

She knew he cared about her. That was obvious. But maybe it would be better if he didn’t. She’d be dead soon; sure, he’d averted her original death, and maybe the Tutorial’s weird Time compression would put it off until they returned to Earth, but either way, she was a dead girl walking.

No, she had to. Better he hate her than turn against the world the way he said he had in the past only he remembered. She could believe it; there was a strong feeling of Time about him now.

As they walked towards the trading area, Rissa gripped her fragile courage and spoke up. She was almost crying, but she had to push that down. She had to be strong; it was better for Thomas if she made this clean. “I wanted to talk to you alone anyway, Thomas … Serenity.”

“You’ve seemed down since lunch.” Thomas - no, Serenity - obviously had no idea where she was going. That was so Thomas of him!

Where to start? “Since breakfast, really. I - you know I have Time and Mind affinities, right?”

Serenity nodded.

“Well … they’re not new. I’ve always had a sense about people, and sometimes I dream of the future. It’s clearer now, but … it’s still the same thing.” Rissa stopped. Was that the right place to start? Serenity felt confused, but not upset; it seemed like he was following.

After a moment, Serenity stated, “That means you’re a Talent. It’s unusual, but … it’s a good thing. Talents adapt faster, you have a better chance.”

Rissa froze. That wasn’t Thomas talking. Even though he looked like Thomas and sometimes felt like Thomas, that wasn’t Thomas. He’d never have said that. Rissa grabbed for him, wishing she could have her Thomas back even though she knew it was impossible. “That. THAT is the problem. That’s exactly the problem!”

Serenity hugged her back. He didn’t understand, but sometimes a hug is more important than words. She could almost imagine him saying that; he’d … no. Thomas had said it more than once, with almost exactly that same sort of puzzled worried fondness.

Eventually, Rissa continued. “I - I loved Thomas. He wasn’t always reliable, and he could be lazy, but … he was kind and cheerful and loving. We had our things. Our - little rituals. I knew something was wrong - really wrong - after that dream. It wasn’t just that you had trouble remembering. No. That was coming back. You felt a long way away, almost an entirely different person, when you woke up - but you were starting to come back. “

She’d hoped it meant nothing. Just a bad dream. Bad dreams happen. Nothing to worry about.

“Only … at breakfast you ate the scrambled eggs. No complaining, no exaggerated faces. Thomas hated scrambled eggs, or at least he pretended to. It was fun. But - I could pretend. You looked like Thomas, you sounded like Thomas, you cared about me. Maybe not quite the way Thomas did, but it was close. I thought it was close enough.” She’d thought she could make it work.

“Then the doorbell rang. And an entirely different person was standing where Thomas was - where you were. I knew you were protecting me, but - I’d never felt that from Thomas before. It was over so quick … but you felt a little less like Thomas and a little more like that stranger.”

Worse than that, she knew she was dead. The man at the door was the one who would kill her. Yes, he’d been stopped; that didn’t matter. Fate couldn’t be changed. She’d tried so many times; trying to change it only made it worse. It would be better for Thomas … for Serenity … if she weren’t there.

“You look like Thomas. Well, actually you look better than Thomas. You sound like Thomas. You joke around like Thomas. But you don’t react to shared memories quite the same way. You don’t … you’re polished where Thomas was clumsy. Skilled where he was endearing.”

She hated this almost as much as she hated what she had to say next. But it was better this way.

“I really like you and … and if you weren’t in Thomas’s body I think … I think things might be different. But every time you speak, every time I see you … I know you’re Thomas. But … you aren’t Thomas. They say … they say that our future self kills our past self every day. I know that’s true. But .. I was in love with Thomas. I didn’t see you change. So to me … it’s like you killed Thomas and took over his body. I know that’s not what happened. I know I’d be dead if you hadn’t. But - that’s what it feels like. And … I think I’m coming to hate you for not being Thomas.”

Serenity just held her as she cried in his arms. How could he let her just be there after what she’d just said?

When she finally cried herself out, he was still holding her. “So. Do you have any idea how we can manage this so that you don’t come to hate me? I assume you’re breaking up with me, but - past that. I - I don’t want you to just … run away.”

“I don’t know. I just … I need you to not remind me so much of Thomas and that you … should be him.” Rissa couldn’t let him know this was for his sake. She couldn’t; that would make things worse, not better.

“Maybe I can do something about that.” Serenity frowned and she felt intense concentration and focus coming from him.

He let go of her. “Can you think of me as … Thomas’s older, handsomer, and more fit brother?”

His voice sounded different. Rissa let go of him and leaned back. He looked quite a bit more muscular than Thomas ever had and he sounded different, too. Suddenly it really was easier to think of him as a different person.

She didn’t feel right holding him anymore. This was definitely not Thomas. “Maybe. You .. I can see the resemblance, but … suddenly you don’t really look like Thomas.”

Even if she kind of wished he were.

“It’s several small changes. That’s why I’m suggesting you think of me as Thomas’s brother, because … if you saw ... us together, that’s what you would probably think.”

Serenity stopped at the first place he saw that had a sign saying “trading for MONSTER CORES”. Partly, that was to check out what they had - but mostly it was to give Rissa a chance to get far enough ahead that he wouldn’t be able to find her.

The shop was selling fruit, nuts, and a few varieties of meat. There wasn’t much of any one thing. He noticed some of the spike-pears, a green berry that grew in bunches, a double-handful of a yellowish nut, and a few of an almost black peach-shaped fruit with a multicolored sheen when the light hit it that all smelled delicious. The peach-things didn’t seem quite ripe somehow, but the rest were. The rest of the food - including the meat - seemed to be ordinary. He was sure it would taste good, but that was all.

He walked over to the man at the booth, who seemed to be doing something with a knife and some wood, and asked how much it would be for all of the things that interested him. “For those? Only one of those that’s selling well is the spike-pears. I’ll give you all of ‘em for five cores.”

“I’ll take them. Will slime cores work?” Serenity wasn’t interested in the slime cores anymore, so that would be a good trade for him.

“Would it matter? I didn’t think you could tell them apart, other than size.”

“There’s also quality, but … no. Most people can’t, other than size and quality. It shouldn’t matter at all for lowlevel crafting, if that’s what you’ll be doing with them.” Serenity didn’t remember being able to tell them apart before, at least.

“Good enough then.” The man grabbed some bags and started setting the various produce in them. He handed over the bag once Serenity turned over the cores. “Enjoy.”

“I will.” Serenity stashed the produce in his pack, on top of the cores. He couldn’t afford to spend long looking at either the cores or the produce - they were both making him hungry.

Serenity spent the next couple hours wandering the crafting area, thinking about the demonstration, without finding anything else he wanted to buy before heading to the hill Sillon had suggested. The graveyard was indeed on top of the hill.

There was no one around, so he pulled out one of the spike-pears and ate it whole. It was the first chance he’d had to actually use his new mouth and throat, and it felt completely natural. He was definitely going to have to be careful. He could tell the fruit dissolved on its way down his throat and never made it to his stomach - which wasn’t a surprise, since he once again got Ev and a small increase in Life affinity.

The one odd thing he noticed was that even though he hadn’t actually taken it apart and eaten it - he’d just swallowed it - he could taste the whole thing, including the inside. He could only think that must be part of the absorption process.

It was delicious.

Well, if he had time he’d eat some more. For now, he needed to prepare the after-dinner demonstration. He didn’t have good guidelines; just that he needed to let people know where to go to study Death if they wanted to, without scaring those who didn’t want to too badly.

He thought something memorable but low-impact would probably be best. No chasing people through streets or the like. Something those who were interested would know to follow. So … no zombies. Skeletons were the way to go. He was pretty sure that most people found them at least less gross and everyone knew they were undead.

He’d surround the dining hall with them while people were at dinner, then have them move out of the way as they exited - that would make it obvious they were controlled. Directing people up the hill might be a little harder, but he’d make a line of skeletons that stood as though they’d walked down the hill - let people trace it back.

That should be a big enough demonstration. And hopefully people wouldn’t panic. Death magic always had that risk, especially early in a world’s integration. He’d taken advantage of that more than once.

The only problem now was that controlling that many undead was … not going to be easy. His stats were just too low. He’d have no trouble raising and moving them a few at a time - with 100% Death Affinity and a completed Concept, that was simple - but he’d have to actively control the ones near the dining hall … well. Maybe he could just leave openings at the walkways. That might be less threatening, and would certainly be easier. Yes, that was a better plan.

There were still a few hours until dinner. The best way he could think to pass the time was to try to increase his mental stats. But first, he wanted to try a skeleton core. He wasn’t sure it would help his understanding at all, but they did smell good and it couldn’t hurt.

He pulled one out and ate it. He felt the Death energy move through him, but it didn’t seem to do anything. Possibly because he was already as high Affinity as -

When he looked at his status, he was shocked. Apparently it was possible to go over 100% Affinity. The slime cores hadn’t affected anything, but they weren’t tied to any particular affinity, while skeletons definitely were. He wasn’t sure what the effect would be, but he figured he’d better not eat more of the skeleton cores - Tier 0 wasn’t a good place to experiment.

No, he’d spend as long as he could trying to increase his mental stats. Will in particular was going to be needed to manage the skeletons, while mind would help with his mana pool. Understanding was less important in this case since he had the Affinity and Concept to lean on, so he’d focus on the other two. Especially Will.

He’d made huge strides in the time he had. Unfortunately, he’d only had a few hours. He hoped it would be enough. It was an hour before dinner, and he needed to start calling skeletons from the grave.

Lillene

I've learned a lot over the past year while writing this story. One of those things is that sometimes I have to do sections from other POVs, and this is one of those times.

Another is more consistent line spacing...