"Uh — hello? Hey, don't go quiet now."
"I'm just surprised by your dumb question."
Riven lifted an eyebrow. "Dumb??"
"Yes. Dumb. It's me, Jordan — your twin brother, who you've known your entire life."
Riven took those words to heart, but he could still see the system saying that the telepathic link wasn't even on.
"Is the system glitched? Can it even glitch? That woman did do something, but the system itself said it had a resistance to it. Maybe it had lasting effects that didn't show?" Riven was confused, but he knew one way to confirm his answer: wait for Jordan to come back after class and confirm his story. Then he realized, "Wait — remind me again, where are you, Jordan?"
"I told you, I don't know, truthfully. I see you in the training room, but around me it's dark — pitch dark — but I also see something else."
"OK, I'll bite. What is that something else?"
"Every time you activate the system or open the system, the area around me changes into a blue hue, and then I see what you're looking at. I must've passed out in class and maybe my subconsciousness came here."
"Whoa, whoa. Are you trying to say that your consciousness went in the system? But that wouldn't make sense — when I go to sleep I don't wake up in the system, and if it were to happen to any of us, it should've been me since the system is my ability. So something's definitely not right. But this would explain why I don't see you in the telepathic link."
Back at the academy.
"He just went to my training room like it's his own personal area. I know I shouldn't have given any of you the code," Wren said in annoyance.
"Anyways," Nico said, ignoring Wren's complaints. "How did the fight go? Riven knew her one weakness — so how did he not win it?"
"That's the thing: it seems like she actually held back. She used moves that she didn't use When We saw her outside."
"So she held back on us," Harkel said, curving his fist up in anger
"That's how it seems."
"Well, if he's skipping, I'm skipping as well. I don't have time for Damien's training — I'm just tired," Tessa said, yawning.
"Same. We should go back to our dorms. There's no point in us going back to the training room if you just wanna lay there and go to sleep."
"What about Riven? He seemed both cheery and curious when he was walking away from me and Skye."
"I don't know — ask Jordan. He's his twin."
"OKAY Jordan, what do you think's up with him?"
Jordan put his hand on his chin. "If I know him, he is most likely lost in thought and just thinking to himself. I'll just bring some food for him — you guys can go to your dorm. Wren, we'll make sure we lock the door behind us." Jordan then walked off toward the city to get some food for him and his brother.
"Hey, can you get us something as well?" Joey asked. Jordan put up a thumbs-up.
"When's my birthday?" Riven asked — in his mind.
"August 10th."
"What happened on the day of December 25?"
"Mom was finally able to break Dad out of his gambling habits and was able to get him a job."
"What are you the most afraid of?"
"Spiders."
Riven was asking the person in his head — who sounded like Jordan — multiple questions that only Jordan should know.
"When you first naturally evolved, what did you tell me?"
"That no matter what happened, I will always be by your side, even when we're worlds apart."
"I guess there's no mistake in it. You really are Jordan. But if your subconsciousness is inside the system, where is your body?"
Riven then heard the training door open.
"Hey, Riven. I thought you might be hungry." But Jordan's words cut off as he saw Riven staring at him with a wide-eyed expression.
"Who are you? What did you do to my brother's body?"
"Whoa, Riven — did you hit your head? It's me, Jordan. Your brother — twin brother, in fact."
"But that can't be. Am I going insane? Maybe I've been in the room for too long."
"What are you talking about?"
Riven then got an idea. He turned on the telepathic link for Jordan and started talking.
"Jordan," Riven called out to the link, but then he heard two responses at the same time.
"Yea." This caught Jordan by surprise.
"Does the telepathic link have an echo or something?"
"So I'm not going crazy — the one in the system speak," Riven called out. Jordan was confused by his words, but then he heard a voice: his own voice.
"I don't know what's going on, brother. That is most certainly my body."
"What the — is that me?" Jordan questioned, but was soon cut off by Riven, who asked him the same questions he'd asked before. Jordan answered them the same way as the one in the system did.
"Riven, what is going on?"
"I don't know. I can't hear myself — a voice started talking to me. Your voice. It said it was you. I asked them some questions that only you should know, yet he was able to answer them the same way you just did right now."
"Let me talk to him." Riven shook his head and decided to keep his mind quiet and just listen.
"Um — hello, Jordan?"
"Yes, I am Jordan."
"You say you are, yet that is who I am. So how about this: are you sure you're not the system? Maybe you developed a consciousness."
"If I was the system, why would I have your voice and your memories if the system is Riven's forced-evolved ability?"
"You have a point there. OK, fine. Let's do that: your memories — what do you remember?"
"I remember basically everything: me and my brother playing at the park, falling off my bike, Mom giving me a Band-Aid, Dad's gambling addiction, Mom stopping him from gambling. All that stuff with Kalder."
The name made the two boys twitch a little.
"Me telling Mom and Dad that Riven quit his job, and Riven telling me about his system and all the stuff that led out to here."
"Do you find anything strange about those memories?"
"Yes, yes I do. It felt like I didn't have control over my body — like they already happened, not like memory but as if I were living through them. I couldn't really control my body or stop my body from doing a certain action. Until I ended up in a forest fighting the wolf."
"Oh shit," is all Jordan said out loud as he started piecing together what the voice really was.
"Did you figure it out?" Riven asked.
"Maybe. So where are you?"
"I'm in a dark space where I can see the training room but mainly Riven."
"And you said the only time you had control over your body was in the fight with the wolves. Yeah — after that fight, what happened?"
"I — I don't remember. It all goes dark, and then I might've just woke up and I was running with everyone. Then after certain events we — me and Riven — start to walk away from each other going entirely different ways and then I woke up here."
"Oh shit," Jordan repeated. "I am so, so sorry. I knew I should never have used that dumb weapon or even got it."
"Did you piece it together? Do you know who I really am?"
"Yes, yeah I did. You are me — or you are Jordan, is what I should say, but —"
"I don't like you beating around the bush. I'm as curious as him. I don't want some stranger living in my head."
Jordan sighed. "You're the clone."
"The clone??"
"Yes. Think back: before you could move around freely, what happened during that fight?"
"I had a weapon which has the ability to make a clone of myself. that same clone would have consciousness, and it wouldn't just disappear after a couple hits — it was alive." The Voice then started to drift off and then it yelled. "It was me, but I don't have any memories of me dying as the clone — or at least you seeing me die. Holy shit, I died."
"Most likely you were in some type of resting mode or something like that, which is why you didn't see those things."
The two boys then heard the clone breathing heavily in their minds. It seemed like the cloned Jordan was hyperventilating in some type of way.
"Hey Jordan, are you OK?"
"No, I'm not OK. I just found out I'm one: a clone; two: I'm dead; and three: I'm stuck in the system where it's dark and cold and I'm alone."
The two felt bad for the voice.
"You're not alone. I'm here with you and I'll help you."
"Help me how?"
"Well, you say you're in the system, right? That means we can go to the inventory space and give you things, and we could always talk to you. You are my brother, aren't you?"
The voice stopped hyperventilating and started to calm its breathing.
"Yea. You're right."
"Hey — we'll figure it out together. We're a family, aren't we?" Jordan said hesitantly since they were the same person.
"Yeah," the Jordan in the system said confidently. "We are a family — that's if you guys accept me since I am a clone of the original."
"That doesn't matter. You may be a clone in the system, but you're still Jordan. It will be fine. We'll fix this together. Quick question: do you still eat?"
"Maybe. I don't feel hungry."
"Well, maybe you can eat for the joy of it. What do you say?"
"Yeah, yeah. I would like that."
Riven then took a burrito out of the bag and shoved it into the system inventory where he could see it disappear — meaning the Jordan in the system could eat and receive items from the inventory.
"Hey, let's go down to the city and get some covers and pillows. Actually — no. Let's get an entire bed if they have one down there."
Jordan agreed, and the two boys left the training room, making sure to close it and reset the code. Then they went down to the city to get their new family member something to sleep on.