Daniel was almost knocked off his feet by the mana pulse Evalyn exuded, and he could see the image of the gate ripple as if the signal encountered interference. Thankfully it recovered. As for anything Evalyn’s attack had hit?

  An entire quarter of the lower walkways and terminals were just gone. Sigron had been lucky to have been spared, for he would have been destroyed too, no doubt. At a loss for words, Daniel stared at Evalyn, who had in no way expected her ability to be that strong by the look on her face. Then he saw the aura within what had been the blast radius. “No fucking way.”

  Corrupted Avianoid - (4, Unconscious)

  With a dry voice, Gadriel asked, “That, does it still live?”

  “Unconscious.” Daniel’s brain kicked in and he stopped Gadriel from raising a throwing arm. “Wait! Help Tlara, the elite’s right there. I know what it looks like but trust me there’s no bringing them back like Tak. We need to bring her up here. Lograve, if there’s anyone there get them to stand back, lock down that room if you can in case she wakes up.”

  “I’m going too,” Hunter declared, and Daniel didn’t have a good reason to deny him. This was a risk, but after the insanity Evalyn had somehow dished out he couldn’t imagine the avianoid waking up before they got her to the rift. The Bard herself still had an odd look on her face, as if she was continually taking in her environment for the first time.

  Backlash from the ability? She seems stable at least. Three jumped down to the floor, rushing to the downed figure, while Gadriel sighed and jumped up, continuing until his feet met the ceiling and stuck there. As they were running, Daniel attempted to reach Tak through the Telepathic Link and was comforted he could still bounce messages through Hunter. It suggested their bond had returned. Everything was coming back to how it should be. Tak, do you know where you were on the other side?

  Yes! Your world. A lot of water, and angry humans. Some attacked a while ago but they lost, and people keep saying no one can find us like that again, so I’m not worried. Oh, and your family is there. The other you gave me a cat, but I still like you better.

  Whu- Daniel hadn’t frozen when Tak casually mentioned people attacking Eido, but he missed a step with that last part. Who specifically?

  You, your mother, and your sisters. I am told it is normal that they look like each other, but it is still odd.

  Right, twins, you don’t have that on this world. Daniel had to remain disciplined in his continued observation of the unconsciousness tag on the corrupted avianoid, watching for any sign of her waking. Still, Hunter, I need you to take this body back. There’s only a few minutes left on it anyway.

  The ringcat gave him a quick sideways look mid-run and relented. Fine. Tak, there is a new bond thing. It will still be me.

  Oh? Oh! Tak blinked a few times as Daniel and Hunter both shifted midrun, the Knight in the distance slowly making his way to the center giving a commiserating nod in response to the reaction. That is very good!

  You think it is fine? Hunter asked hesitantly, stumbling for a few seconds until he got used to the change in stride.

  Why not? It will be fun to watch what people think of it. Where are we, by the way?

  Threst, kind of, Daniel answered, still working through the fact that what was left of his family was on the other side of that portal. Earth-Daniel had said he couldn’t come to the Octyrrum, but would this change things? He wouldn’t be able to truly relax and enjoy what he’d accomplished until that matter was settled, and more immediately important, the corrupted avianoid was dealt with.

  She’d remained unconscious and from the looks of it was beat the hell up by Evalyn’s Super Songbolt. Without any recovery powers like Regeneration, her admittedly high endurance would still take a while to rouse her. We’re grabbing her and jumping back to the platform. There’s some kind of corruption here she’s been affected by. I want to try cleansing her through the rift, it’s worked for other people.

  I will help bring her to the floating piece of fur, Tak affirmed, having not grasped in any way most of what Daniel had just said. He’d need to sit everyone down after this and take a few hours to explain everything.

  Might as well make bets with Shuni on what they’ll be weirded out by the most, he thought to himself. It was a tough race, but he’d pick Spinner. Rerouting to the group chat, Daniel added, the other one Gadriel’s handling… you just need to know we can’t save them. Tak afforded that the silent, solemn acknowledgment it was due and Jumped with Daniel, Hunter using Springing Strike to keep up in case of trouble. It took a couple of attempts across the charred remains of the room, each Jumper taking the corrupted avianoid under one arm, but they managed it without waking her.

  Standing once more on the platform, Daniel saw Evalyn had returned through to the other side in the meantime and was helping Lograve keep people out of whatever room they were in. He heard familiar voices arguing. Painful memories resurfacing. He drove them out as he forced one of the corrupted avianoid’s hands to the surface of the rift and watched as his phone lit up with an alert.

  Arcadian Security Alert

  >Warning! Corrupted ?!UNKNOWN!? detected at node: Lower Aft Power Relay.

  >General alert is in effect.

  >Processing…

  >Security response required at Lower Aft Power Relay. Unsuccessful cleansing of ?!UNKNOWN!? by local node.

  >Advancing alert to acting administrator

  Arcadian Administrative Alert

  >CRITICAL WARNING! The following classified information is marked for administrator use only and should not be shared with any other personnel. Reveal alert?

  Yes / No

  Arcadian Administrative Alert

  >CRITICAL WARNING! Unsuccessful cleansing of ?!UNKNOWN!? in node: Lower Aft Power Core.

  >Analysis of incident suggests failure is due to unwillingness of the target.

  >As acting administrator, you are authorized to override the target’s soul protections to enable a forced cleansing. Be advised, deployment of this protocol through Arcadian systems should be heavily rationed for essential personnel only. Overuse may lead to critical system damage due to conflict with underlying universal fundaments.

  >Override the soul protections of ?!UNKNOWN!? ?

  Yes / No

  A more considerate Daniel would have gone over the implications of choosing to veto someone’s will and force them to do something, with the alternative being their death, but he was in no state to make a rational decision. Hitting yes, Daniel watched as the corrupted avianoid began to spasm, her hand fixing itself to the side of the rift as a stream of purple and black was injected into it only to burn away. Over half a minute, the corrupted portions of her body slowly receded, transferring any damage to the reverted flesh. When the last bit of corruption left, the tag on the avianoid changed.

  Bekali Tiltfeather - (4, Unconscious)

  Wait, isn’t that-

  “Hey you. I was starting to regret coming along, but this is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for,” the voice of Shuni called out, and Daniel turned to find the Rogue looking at both the portal and Hunter with interest. She’d Grown Wings to keep hovering in place. “Sorry about the silent treatment. My mana was pretty burnt and I had to keep to stealth in case the elite broke out of what Tlara was doing. They’ve got that handled now. I’m, uh, going to let you deal with all of that and catch my breath.”

  Daniel turned and smiled at the Rogue, eternally grateful for her. Of everyone, she’d had the least to gain in coming here and had still helped him out. “You’re good. Wait, what happened to Khiat?”

  Shuni looked down and to the side. “Pretty sure she retreated to one of the corridors after you first left. That one, maybe? Then the doors came down and cut her off.”

  Daniel cursed under his breath as he quickly moved to undo the lockdown. If Khiat had wandered away to find another way into the power core and gotten lost…

  The doors around the space opened, except the one that the person who was somehow Padri’s ancestor had brutalized. A few seconds later, Khiat came running in. “Oh, thank the gods,” she cried out in relief, relaxing the tension on her bow. “I tried to get the doors open but I couldn’t-“

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “It’s fine, Khiat. I’m glad you’re ok,” Daniel shouted back. “We have… a lot of stuff to deal with. Are you ok with taking a break now?”

  “I think I need it after all of that.” She slid down the nearby wall into a sitting position, and once he was sure nothing would get pinched, Daniel closed all the doors again to secure the space. He wanted to collapse as well, hammered by how busy the last hour of his life had been. Hell, Beast Mode was still on cool down.

  I think I need to talk to my family now, Daniel thought to Tak and Hunter, endless trepidation in his mental voice. He reached a hand forward, and as expected, as promised, as excruciatingly painful as it was to acknowledge, he couldn’t pass through. The regular Octyrrum alerts decided to pop in just to kick him while he was down.

  System Alert: Attempted Teleportation was unsuccessful due to the target World already containing a Soul sufficiently similar to yours. All worlds can only possess one of each unique soul according to Fundamental Law: Solipsism. Additionally, possession of Entity: Corrupted Spoke further prevents teleportation due to potential System Conflict.

  The part about unique souls was new, but otherwise it was exactly as advertised. He was stuck here. Daniel felt tears come to his eyes as he looked away, only for both Hunter and Tak to put a hand on his shoulders. I told you, Hunter said, I won’t go if you can’t. I’m staying with you.

  Me too, Tak added. I do have a cat, but there is someone who can take care of it while I am gone. Many people want to. Pouncer is the only one on the island.

  You got a cat and you named it Pouncer? Daniel weakly chuckled. That’s almost as bad as Hunter.

  You will be fine, Hunter stated, ignoring the barb meant to distract from the situation. You, Daniel, have fought dragons. You found me again. You may not be able to return, but I will never leave you.

  And you thought we couldn’t be brothers, Daniel replied, just to Hunter, as he wiped at his face. It was very apparent that Lograve and Evalyn had figured out the danger had passed and were only keeping the room clear because they had eyes. “You can let them in,” Daniel called through the rift. “I’m ready.”

  …

  Two Daniels looked at each other, separated by less than a meter and a distance further than they could comprehend. Neither could reach the other, but the rest of his family could come through just fine. After seeing the height he was at and, more importantly, the blinding light from the attack Evalyn let off, they weren’t keen on trying out a new world just yet. Daniel yearned to hug them, if only for a moment of contact before they were cut off again. But he didn’t ask for that, not yet.

  Part of him was relieved they’d already been broken into the insanity that was his current life. Another added a further reason to be infuriated with Earth-Daniel for dragging them into this too. The look on his mother’s face… he couldn’t describe it. There was happiness, less confusion than he’d expected and thank god he’d swapped out of Beast Mode, but other, ineffable emotions mixed in that defied his comprehension.

  Alex and Ami? The first appeared more confident, his more business-minded twin bearing similar marks to Gadriel. Weariness. She hadn’t been coping well with whatever had happened over there. The man himself, the ‘original’ Daniel that had brought everyone here with the choice he’d made months ago? The avatar of apprehension. He was shaking from it. They both were, but Octyrrum-Daniel less so.

  Almost blending into the background, literally in one case, were Evalyn, Lograve, and a man Daniel didn’t recognize. He did see the pistol holstered on the hip and guessed whoever it was was trusted enough to have a gun that close to his family. The last two players in the culmination of all of Daniel’s heartache and homesickness were his bedrock. Tak and Hunter.

  Earth-Daniel couldn’t stop looking at the latter, if only to take his eyes off Daniel. Finally, he got a hold of himself and broke the silence. “I, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  Daniel considered the many ways he could reply, the various powers at his command. The weight of each. Meaning and intent. He looked himself in the eye. Kindness and understanding. “I forgive you. It was a stupid decision, and not even an hour ago I almost-“ Daniel cut off what he was about to say as he noticed the rest of his family listening to every word. Technically, this was the first thing he’d ever say to them. “You did it because you loved Dad. The crazy thing is, if I can find him, bring him here, open this gate again, your plan might work. You exiled me, you caused me so much pain, and I forgive you.”

  The breath left the other’s chest as he simply had no response to that. Everyone else was still trying to figure him out, see enough similarities to know it was really him. It’d been at least a year since he, or Earth-Daniel at least, had properly seen them. What were they expecting? What did they fear from him? He’d done the best he could, spoken the best he could, but they couldn’t have missed what he’d been saying earlier. The blood on his armor and how naturally he wore it.

  One person saw through it. “Daniel!? My son!”

  “Mom, wait!” Alex called out and managed to stop her with the reflexive help of Ami before she reached the threshold. “It’s not safe.”

  “He, he’s right there. How?” Kara stopped fighting against her daughters and collected herself, Earth-Daniel standing completely frozen and to the side. “All this time I never believed… Daniel?”

  “It’s me. I’m…” He searched for the words, settling for something not quite true. “Everything is ok. There are people here I care about, who care about me. Hunter.” Daniel put a hand on him, both for support and to indicate who he was talking about. “We’ve saved each other so many times. I trust him with my life. As far as I’m concerned, he’s my brother.” How that declaration would be received he had no idea. It would depend on what Earth-Daniel had told them. No amount of fear for how he’d be judged would have stopped him either way.

  “We’ve, uh, talked with some of them. The ones over here,” Alex said somewhat awkwardly, dodging the topic with uncertainty. It was something fairly heavy to throw at them in one go. “God, Daniel, all of this is insane. There are two of you.”

  “No. One of each,” Hunter intoned, and the bass in his voice made her flinch. He wasn’t being outright hostile, and if it would be toward anyone it would be Earth-Daniel, but his guard was up.

  Kara closed her eyes as a hand passed by what was hanging from her neck. “Daniel, nothing I know could have prepared me for this. I look at you and see a son that’s aged too quickly, and not for the first time. I should have kept us together when he died. I tried when you, when he came back.” There was conflict and sorrow in her voice, and she’d all but given up trying to reach him by now. “I don’t know if that helped. I’m supposed to protect all of you.”

  “None of this is your fault,” Daniel said firmly. He was proud of himself for resisting the urge to look at his other self in that moment. Saying you forgave someone was easier than actually doing it. For all of their sakes, he would try. “You couldn’t have possibly known.”

  “But I should have.” It was nonsense, and Daniel knew she meant every word. “I don’t know how to fix this.”

  “You don’t have to. It wouldn’t be up to you anyway.” That, more than anything, was familiar. His mother had that need to correct things, it was one of the reasons she was a doctor. The tendency had come off as overbearing when he was growing up, but now he could only see it as heartbreaking. “I, I can have a good life here. Do things I never thought were possible. I can make things that let anyone fly, by themselves. It’s more than I could have ever dreamed.” So easily he lied with the truth.

  She walked right up to the divide and put a hand to it, flinching as one of her fingers accidentally crossed over. More grounded, she didn’t have the will to go further. “I love you with all of my heart, no matter where you are, no matter what you do. If this is the last time I see you, know that will never change.”

  Daniel slowly walked up to the barrier, moving the platform forward with telekinesis until it touched the rift. He still couldn’t pass through, but his mother’s arms reached through and embraced him. His sisters soon followed, neither going past his mother to avoid fully crossing the barrier. The embrace was everything he had been searching for, doing what words couldn’t. It made him believe in a world where he could put any grudge against himself aside. Even if he could never be with them again.

  The spell had to be broken at some point. Daniel walked back, eyes catching for a moment the tenseness in the man with a handgun, though that faded when his family pulled back from the rift themselves. It was so brief he might have imagined it, or this was some kind of bodyguard far out of his depth. The moment was quickly forgotten.

  Hiding his sniffles, Daniel asked a question. “Lograve if you're, uh, still there. How did you do this? Can you do it again?”

  There wasn’t an immediate answer, and eventually the Arcanist’s footsteps could be heard approaching. “I… have reason to believe so. The basis for this is a ritual I have been developing since I arrived. To not belabor the point, it works differently than the others. It needs a Focus of its own and a connection to cross.” A curious inflection entered his tone as if he were speaking a code phrase to detect another spy. “Do you think there would be one?”

  He knows about the Spoke? In hindsight, it wasn’t that hard of a conclusion to draw if they’d landed in Eido. “Yeah.” His spirits rekindled. “This won’t be the last time. This is a place I can come back to. We can see each other again.”

  “Maybe we can visit sometimes. Flying sounds fun,” Alex replied, voice half-thready, half-uplifted. He knew that if there was a chance of that happening, that day wouldn’t come for some time. There was no way he’d bring any of his family to this world right now no matter the lies he told.

  With all the courage of a mouse, his other self edged his way back into the group, judging it safe to do so. “Hunter, he’s… ok?”

  “Yeah,” Daniel simply said in response to himself. So he knows Hunter died. I should ask when he stopped watching later, and why. “You found Eido?”

  “Chris did, after the connection broke.” He nodded his head backward at the gunman. “So, so much has happened. I’m a multimillionaire,” he said, with laughter that just barely touched hysteria. “But I can barely spend it. There’s a kind of concealment around Eido. We’re somewhere in the Pacific, but the point moves. If we go out too often-“

  “Someone will find you again.” Some of the pieces were starting to fit together, like how even Earth-Daniel, isolated in a bunker, hadn’t heard about an alien invasion. He looked, really looked at his other self as he had before in Bridge Space, trying to see himself there. It was easier this time. His eyes lingered over the necklace, and that was noticed.

  “Lose yours?” Earth-Daniel said consolingly. “I… if you want mine…”

  “No, it’s in here.” Daniel reached into his red bag of holding and withdrew the Focus. “I had to start being careful with it, remember? I actually did lose it and…”

  Wait. How had he gotten it back? Both Foci had disintegrated after Hunter died. He’d seen Hammer give him the material to remake his Artificer Focus, but this wasn’t the same. He could stare across space and confirm with his eyes that the necklace he held was the exact same as the one on Earth. The only memories left were from right toward the end, when would anyone have had time to give it back to him?

  For that matter, Daniel couldn’t bind another Totem Warrior Focus, he’d lost the class. Questions he’d never considered flooded his mind, prompted by the sight of the two necklaces. Rorshawd had implied in Aughal that it had been his original Focus, which would mean it would have existed before he’d arrived in the Octyrrum. This wasn’t two different eagle feathers strung on a similar cord, they were a perfect match.

  But his father had given him…

  His father had…

  The last seal on Daniel’s memory broke. Unlike every other time he didn’t have to fight for it. In fact, it came in opposition to his will. It was the last remnant, with nothing afterward to stop the forward progress until he hit the point he’d woken up to face a Tyrant. One last dive to retrieve answers, only now, out of every opportunity he’d had, it’d come at the worst possible time.

  Daniel collapsed against the suspended wall and began to shake, his mind assaulted by visions of the past and a great, terrible pain that became real as it was remembered.