Chapter 28: Chapter 27: Personality Split

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Once I reached the transportation circle hidden in Shadewind’s Central Park, I returned to the spellcaster’s guild. This time I thankfully didn’t have to worry about fighting slimes as the ones I’d defeated had yet to be replaced. I’d nearly reached the large circular chamber at the heart of the guild before I was found by the fiery-haired man who’d led me there before. 

“Lady Caelan,” The man bowed. “We’ve been told to guide you to Lady Cesarina if you should visit. Please follow me.” 

“You know, I never learned your name,” I noted as I followed the man through a doorway at the far end of the central chamber. 

“Lyle.” 

“It’s a pleasure to see you again Lyle.” 

The library in the spellcaster’s guild looked nothing like any I’d ever seen. The shelves where short and squat, with only a single floor it appeared similar to a wide hallway with books on either end. Lyle beckoned me forward, refusing to take a single step beyond the first grouping of shelves. 

After traveling far enough that the entrance had vanished from sight, a chill traveled down my spine. An aura, dark and sinister filled the air, corrupting the latent mana around me. 

“This isn’t vampire magic,” I mumbled, wreathing myself in a holy barrier. Vampires were high level demons, capable of reaching heights of dark magic mortals could never hope to obtain. That and their ability to manipulate the minds of those they fed from made them dangerous, but I’d never heard of one corrupting latent magic in the air. 

“Cesarina?!” I shouted. “Are you here?” 

“Caelan?” Cesarina appeared from the shadows, her irises glowing a dark red, a faint trail of fresh blood dripping from her lips. 

“You’ve fed?” I took a step back and mustered my magic, wreathing my hands in fire. “You lied to me.” 

“Caelan, no, you have it wrong!” Cesarina wiped the blood away as her irises faded into her natural blue. “This blood, it’s mine!” 

“Bullshit,” I hissed between gritted teeth. 

“No, really!  Please just let me show you!  I swear I did this for you, for Auriel.” 

“Did what?” 

“Just follow me, please?” 

Sighing I nodded and waved my hand forward, “I’ll follow.” 

“Thank you for your benevolence,” Cesarina bowed before turning on her heels to guide me deeper into the library. 

At the library’s furthest edge was a door which led to a small oval chamber which appeared to be in use as a bedroom. Inside, seated at a small wooden table, was a girl identical in appearance to Cesarina, sporting fresh bite marks on her neck. 

“You had a twin?” 

“Of course not!” Cesarina smiled and motioned to her doppelgänger. “Allow me to introduce you to Aivi, I created her entirely with magic, as a duplicate of myself.” 

“How?” 

“You remember our conversation in the bath, about people who lived far beyond their lifespan? Well I went back to the tome I used to become a vampire and found notes on a spell to give the caster immortality. It was incomplete, but the information presented was enough for me to pair with another handful of tomes from my mother’s collection, together they revealed a ritual to me.” 

“A ritual… to copy yourself?” 

“Yes!” Cesarina grinned. “It’s false immortality, as it does nothing to preserve the caster. It allows the caster’s memories, and knowledge to be preserved in a duplicate of themselves. A duplicate that can be as young as the caster desires. If I wished it, Aivi could’ve been made a child.” 

“You’ve been gone from my sight for a single day and already you’ve unraveled the secrets behind a cloning spell? I’m… impressed, I don’t know what to say. How does this help Auriel though?” 

“Well, the spell was only difficult to its creators because it relies on magic non-demons could never use. One of the required components is trapping demonic essence into a gemstone as a conduit, obviously I didn’t need to make use of such a thing.” 

“That, doesn’t answer my question.” 

“Yes, but this will.” Cesarina grinned before waving her hand in front of Aivi’s eyes. “Hey! Aivi! You awake? I’d like you to introduce yourself to Caelan, okay?” 

Aivi blinked languidly before standing. She appeared unsteady, perhaps due to blood loss nevertheless she bowed. “Greetings Lady Caelan. I am Cesarina’s younger sister, Aivi. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too?” 

Cesarina smirked. “Completely rewritten.” 

“Huh?” 

“Aivi, tell Caelan your level and class.” 

“I am a level 1, spellcaster.” 

“She lost everything?” I asked raising an eyebrow at Cesarina. 

“Not everything. She remembers the fundamentals, with the knowledge she has, she’ll be level ten in no time I’m sure. When we spoke in the manor’s library I told you I’d have to bite Auriel to alter her memories, and because of that I couldn’t promise results.  We had no idea if I’d be able to control myself afterward, even I was afraid that if I drained enough of Auriel’s blood I’d just sap her dry. Well, Aivi proves that I can control myself, and my vampiric powers can do what you want.” 

“So you used an unrelated spell to clone yourself, then proceeded to do something we’d both agreed you shouldn’t, ugh my head hurts. Did you drain her level when you fed from her?” 

“No no, the clone of the caster is a new person, thus the caster’s level cannot be transferred. Still with the knowledge I left inside her, Aivi has everything she needs to quickly rise in power. And, there’s something else.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Aivi is human. If I could uncover the secrets of possession, I could create another clone and undo my vampirism by possessing it.” 

“Already sick of being a vampire?” 

“Today marks twice you’ve considered killing me since we met. I just wanted you to know that it might be possible.” 

“Can you clone someone else? If I wanted you to clone myself for example, could you do it?” 

Cesarina’s eyes widened as she studied me, as if she was debating whether what I said was a joke or not. Finally after some thought she shook her head. “The spell is written so that the one casting it is the one duplicated. I might be able to create a version where I can duplicate someone else, but that could take decades of research. Old magic is finicky and altering it dangerous.” 

“Alright then. I don’t know what I was expecting from you, but this most certainly wasn’t it. I’m not even sure if you’d be able to use this on Auriel, we’d need both her and Myra to get on board, and Myra trusts you less than I do.” 

“Is there a way I could earn her trust?” 

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“There… is, but it’s vile magic. A relic of the past I honestly want nothing to do with.” 

“Tell me what it is, I want to help.” 

“We… would need to fashion an enslavement collar for you.” 

“Ah,” Cesarina frowned and took a seat. “You know… that’s fine. I’ve read about the collars in a book, I don’t know how you’d get your hands on one, but that’s okay. As long as you are the one keyed to the collar as my Ma- controller, I’ll wear it.” 

“Are you sure? I promise we’ll remove it swiftly once Myra has had her interrogation… but this is, beyond the bands. You’d be surrendering your entire being to my control.” 

“Yeah, if it was anyone else I’d be scared. But Caelan… I know I can trust you. As long as it’s you, this isn’t a problem for me.” 

“You have no reason to trust me as much as you do.” 

“Don’t I? You’re powerful enough to kill me if you want, yet you’ve spared my life twice. If I turned on you now, Myra, Auriel, your mother, I could kill them all. You know this, and yet you still keep me around. You trust me with the lives of those you cherish, why shouldn’t I trust you with mine?” 

“I guess you’ve got me there, and here I thought we’d have to delay your research into removing Auriel’s memories.” 

“Delay, why?” 

“A lich has appeared in the Glyphwood. We’re forming a party to destroy it, I came here to ask for your help.” 

“I’ll do everything in my power to aid you.” 

“If things don’t go so smoothly it could jeopardize our quest to destroy the bands. Can you handle that?” 

“As long as I keep you alive, you have centuries to carry out my wish,” Cesarina smiled. 

“Thank you, Cesarina. Now then… what will we do with Aivi?” 

“If you don’t mind waiting for a bit, I’ll cut and dye her hair, then I’ll hand her over to my assistant to look after. He’ll be able to help her raise her level and establish herself. I’ll also make sure to have him log anything she does that seems strange. We want to make sure these changes are permanent, so that Auriel only has to be bitten once, right?” 

“Right. Speaking of things that seem strange, the mana here, it’s all distorted.” 

“A byproduct of my spell I’m sure.”

“Is that it?” 

“You can ask me again once you’ve placed the enslavement collar around my neck, but the answer won’t change. Other than my spell, nothing down here should be distorting mana.” 

Chewing my lip I nodded. “Alright, let’s take care of Aivi and then return to the manor. I still have to talk Kaphis into coming with us.” 

“Kaphis… is the same golem who traveled with the hero Caelan, aren’t they?” 

“They are, though, how’d you come to that conclusion?” 

“I overheard a conversation or two,” Cesarina said as she looked away bashfully. “And they’re identical to some portraits drawn in my books on the era.” 

“Well they’re certainly not hiding the fact that they’ve been around for over a thousand years.” 

“It’s a crazy coincidence isn’t it?  That they’d travel the world again after centuries in exile, alongside a girl who shares the same name as the legendary hero.”

“Yeah.” 

Cesarina tapped her chin with a finger, looking me over. “Do you think perhaps Kaphis obtained some minor divinity as they traveled alongside the hero?” 

“I hadn’t thought such a thing, no.” 

“I mean, it makes sense doesn’t it? Kaphis lived during a time when the gods were still active. Now that the gods have gone silent, they’ve adopted a mousekin girl, and suddenly she has access to holy magic? Not to mention your whole mindset is very hero-like, what if Kaphis raised you to be the hero’s replacement in the modern age? After all, almost nobody remembers the Caelan of old.” 

“Let’s talk about this later, okay? We really should get back to the manor, there is so much we need to do before departing.” 

“Are you afraid to question it? Even if you were raised to be a hero, that doesn’t mean Kaphis and Syene don’t love you as their child.” 

“Ugh,” Sighing I pinched the bridge of my nose. “If you weren’t such a bookworm. Cesarina, I am the resurrected Caelan. The very same Caelan who fought the fell dragon over a millennia ago.” 

“Serious?”

“Yeah. I was unhappy, and I used a relic left to the imperial family of the time to wish for a resolution. I’m told I dropped dead the moment my wish was made, but then I came back, a millennia later, looking like this.”

“Then… this is what you wanted?” 

“More or less,” I laughed wryly. “I didn’t believe it at first. I really thought there’d been a mistake. But the longer I’ve lived this life… the more I realize that this is what I wanted. All along the big problem in my life was that my body didn’t look a thing like my soul, but I was too stupid to see it.” 

“Hmm,” Cesarina circled around me. “That explains your magic, though you’re weaker than the hero I’ve read about. Not that I’ve seen you fight, but it’s pretty obvious.  After all, I’ve seen you muster your magic when you’ve considered killing me.” 

“Centuries floating in the abyss will do that to you. I never traveled to the afterlife, I’m sure existing in nothingness ate away at my soul, dampening my power.” 

“But you’re fine now?  There are no signs of degradation? Have you been able to raise your level like normal?” 

“I don’t know about normal, but I did have a significant level boost after we defeated the spirit of Stelyrus in a graveyard.” 

“The spirit of… You’ve fought the fell dragon?  Recently?!” 

“Yup, melted them into nothing.”

“That’s impressive. I guess you’re not the only one who grew weaker over time.” 

“Yeah. Now then, can we finish up here? I kind of promised I’d celebrate Aurii getting C-rank with her today, and I still have to talk to Kaphis as soon as possible about the lich.” 

“Sure, sure. Give me just a second to style Aivi’s hair.”