The moment Bjorn stepped into the Blood Maya, it consumed him. It was thick and churned, like wading through a lake of ink. Every motion was met with resistance, as though the liquid itself fought against him. Bjorn knew it wasn't really a fluid even if it felt like it. He was swimming in the infernal planes equivalent of a lightning bolt. If he wasn't a True Hydra he would be very dead.
Time itself seemed to freeze the moment he submerged himself. He became increasingly aware and at the same time distant to the world around him. No sound, no sight, only the finest taste of something there, something he needed.
Soon an eternity passed in silence or was it a moment? Where was he? Who was he? Why was he in this darkness?
He couldn't remember. It had been so long, hadn't it?
The worst part was the whispers.
They slithered into his mind, soft at first—gentle as a lover's breath.
"You are strong."
"You are powerful."
"You could be more."
He pushed himself forward, that was where he needed to go. At least that is where he thought he needed to go. But why? He growled, pushing forward through the corrupted void, following the faint thread of something. Every inch forward, every moment submerged in this abyss, the trail grew fainter. The maya twisted slowly hiding what he sought. It wanted him to stay.
Something clawed at his core. A violent pulse of demonic energy slammed against him like an unseen current, seeking a way inside, prying at the fractures that had formed from his recent evolution. The pain was immediate, it was a bone-deep agony as the invasive energy latched onto his damaged meridians, trying to force them open.
Bjorn's entire body seized. His heads snapped back as his core trembled under the assault.
"You could be perfect."
"Why fight? Surrender. Let go."
"Why be a slave when you could be free."
"We want you to be…"
"Free." Bjorn finished.
It was intoxicating. This energy wasn't just raw power, it was the promise of abandonment, of being nothing but oneself with no chains, no attachments, no burdens. No responsibilities. No regrets. The maya wasn't just energy, it was love. He could feel it to his core. It loved him. It saw him not with eyes and it wanted him to live a life free of torments. For the briefest moment, the temptation tugged at him.
He wanted to give in but there was something in him that refused. Something deeper than his conscious thought. Something that wouldn't bend or break no matter what the maya promised. Bjorn wasn't eroded; he was sharpened under the mayas temptations. His instincts snarled in defiance.
When he came back to his senses it wasn't Bjorn who roared, it was Isin. It was the man that forced all under heaven to kneel and he pushed his will against the invasion of his soul. He felt the maya twisting inside him, writhing, searching for weaknesses. The meridians that had cracked under stress now throbbed in protest, caught between breaking completely or sealing shut.
He knew he couldn't stay here. The maya had dulled his senses, smothered his path, forcing him deeper into its grasp. The mana crystal might as well have vanished from his perception. Isin turned, kicking off the abyssal floor, his massive form tearing through the liquid corruption as he surged back the way he came. The whispers howled now, enraged at his retreat.
"Come be free."
"Don't leave."
"Be free."
Isin broke the surface of the maya like a breaching leviathan, his body slamming into the cavern floor. He coughed, gagged, his vision swimming as the black substance clung to him, trying to burrow deeper, to become him.
Failsafe's voice cut through the haze. "Bjorn, circulate your primana and push out the maya quickly."
Isin didn't need to be told twice. He forced every ounce of primana through his body, flooding his meridians, purging the lingering maya before it could root itself deeper. The whispers stopped but the pain didn't. The maya fought back, trying to pry him open, trying to rip through his core, trying to make him its own.
His body convulsed. His vision blurred until finally he could breathe without stuttering. After what felt like an eternity—the last remnants of maya burned away. He breathed out the last of the black mist. Which instead of dissipating floated back to the blood maya and rejoined the large mass.
"Where am I?" Isin said as he looked around the cave. "What is going on?"
He collapsed onto his side, his heads heaving and steam rising from his form.
Failsafe's voice was grim. "Twelve hours. You need at least twelve hours before going back in."
"Who is there?" Isin said with a hiss.
"Bjorn, are you okay?"
Bjorn.
The name tingled in his mind, familiar yet foreign, like a song half-remembered from a past life.
"Bjorn?" Isin repeated, the name rolling over his tongue like a puzzle piece that didn't quite fit. His claws dug into the stone. "Why does that name sound familiar?"
"Oh, shit." Failsafe said. "Uh… Isin?"
Isin's eyes snapped toward the voice. "Yes? You know me?"
He turned to look at Failsafe and screamed. It was another head. He had another head. His entire body was wrong. He reared up, slamming his heads into the cavern ceiling before collapsing back to the ground, groaning in pain.
"Hey, hey, listen to me, buddy," the construct said urgently. "My name is Failsafe… well, Reincarnation Failsafe if we're being formal. You are not in a mine, and this—this is your body. You're not a monster."
"Nuriel changed me into this?" Isin looked at his talloned hands. "Wait where is Mihr."
"Your daughter… Uh, look Isin, it will be easier to show you than to tell you." Failsafe said.
"Show me what?" Another voice said groggily. "Ugh, that was not what I expected. What time is it Failsafe?"
"Bjorn?" Failsafe asked.
"Yeah, were you expecting someone else?" Bjorn asked jokingly.
"Why are all of you in my head?"
Silence.
"What in the," Bjorn yelled. "Failsafe what is that?"
"The 'Someone else,' you mentioned." Failsafe stated.
***
Bjorn regained control of his body, well most of it. Failsafe had control of the rightmost head and Isin the leftmost, leaving him in control of the middle two. Failsafe kept him updated on Isin's progress through their shared memories. Apparently, Isin had now reached the point where he was ambushed by the Golden Striders werewolf pack. He had been disturbingly quiet since his first appearance, at first making Bjorn uneasy, but eventually, he had just come to accept the additional voice in his head as part of his reality.
Bjorn was conflicted on the turn of events to say the least. He was Isin after all. That was just a past life but now his past life made a personality separated from himself somehow. Was he going crazy? He could feel the presence of Isin in the same way he could feel Failsafe but there were no changes to his core. Isin was an extension of his mind and his parallel thinking, not his magic or his core.
Bjorn was still worried though, Isin had autonomy unlike Failsafe who he could take control from at any time. He was in the leftmost now but if Bjorn wasn't careful Isin could take full control of their body. Bjorn was happy that it seemed that he was still the dominant mind however that wasn't fool proof. He was not conscious when they left the blood maya. Isin had full control and that was something that Failsafe never had.
"I am dead." Isin said.
"We are not dead." Bjorn replied.
"Not you, but I am." Isin said in a whisper. "The last thing I remember was holding my daughter in my arms now I am this."
"I know things seem… different." He forced a half-smile. "But hey, look on the bright side. We won the Great Aetheric War, apparently. Humans are free. They've got their own kingdom and everything." He paused, then corrected, "Actually, two kingdoms—The Force Isles and Mesha."
For a long moment, Isin said nothing.
"Yes," Isin said in a distant longing voice. "That is some solace." A pause. "Pardon me. I need some time to think." He turned his head away and closed his eyes.
"You think he is going to be okay?" Bjorn questioned.
"Eh… you are and he is you just with some extra baggage." Failsafe said but the lack of confidence was staggering.
"Yeah, I think it is different for me though. When I experience the memories there is still a separation like it is a dream. I think it was because I remembered my death. It was the first memory I had and it closed out that chapter of my existence. But for him it is like he just woke up right in the middle of his life and now he is being told that everything he lived happened seventy thousand years ago."
"Once you put it like that… I can see why this would be scarring." Failsafe said.
"He is you though, so he will come around. The memories we get from level ups will complete his memories too."
"Did the maya really do this to me?" Bjorn asked.
"I don't know. You did say that you were becoming more and more proficient at using your parallel minds. This could just be a product of that. Maybe this was always going to happen or maybe the maya altered you somehow. You will have to talk to your parents to find out."
Bjorn considered it but the mindscape that he spoke to his parents through was falling apart. He didn't want to risk degrading it further with arbitrary questions. His past self wasn't anything life threatening and he had bigger things to worry about like saving the world from an invasion of the Infernal Planes.
***
Bjorn navigated the winding caverns and found that he was quite deep underground. It took several weeks to map out the portions he could actually fit through. Between exploration and diving into the maya progression has slowed to a halt. Everytime he entered the maya it would try to seduce him into letting it into his core.
Failsafe kept Bjorn up to date on Isin's progress through his memories. Apparently Isin was now at the point when they lost Joha in the mountain border fortress. He hadn't really spoken much since his initial appearance which at first had Bjorn worried but eventually he just accepted that he now had a new voice in his head.
"Why did we keep the bond?" Isin questioned.
Bjorn noticed that Isin's voice sounded more human than his own; it wasn't something he ever noticed. His own inner voice sounded layered like his vocal cords weren't made for human speech. Which didn't make sense because he wasn't speaking, he was thinking. He didn't know why he never noticed that before.
"Oh, look who finally decided to speak." Bjorn said with a clipped town. "Are you talking about the Familiar Bond?"
"Yes." Isin responded.
"Have you seen the benefit of it? Apparently people can tell the difference between a familiar and an animal if we want to go into towns we need to have it. It also gives us mana regeneration we wouldn't have otherwise."
"It influences our mind." Isin said sharply. "It is meant to calm beasts and make them subservient to their masters. You have put us through a lot of hardship because you decided not to let go of that girl."
"You think I should have abandoned Tanisha?" Bjorn said with a dangerous edge to his tone.
"If I were the one who broke free from the Angels, as you and the spellform claim, I never would have accepted being bound like this. We are already tied to her by our soul. Should our mind be shackled too? Have you even noticed how the bond is strengthening? It's growing stronger. If this continues, in a few more months, will we even be able to think for ourselves? Or are you already so enthralled that you can't see the danger"
"My name is Failsafe by the way. Not spellform."
Bjorn clenched his jaw. "We have everything under control. The bond isn't some noose around our neck. Breaking it is not necessary and will only serve to hurt us in the long run. We gain experience through Tanisha's actions too."
"I see." Isin said sadly. "So even in my next life I couldn't help but put on chains."
Bjorn stopped dead in his tracks. His claws scraped against stone as his tail lashed, his breath coming faster.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean," Bjorn snarled heads baring their fangs at the the one Isin controlled.
Silence.
"As much as I enjoy you fighting with yourself." Failsafe cut in with an exasperated tone. "Which I don't. We only have a few more hours before we can go back into the blood maya. I think we should start heading back."
"I am not a slave. The bond hasn't affected my mind that much," Bjorn growled ignoring Failsafe attempt at calming them. "I decided to help Tanisha, it wasn't the Familiar Bond that made me do it. It's not like it matters much now we are connected by our souls anyway."
"Hey why are you yelling at me I am not the one that said it." Failsafe said.
"I am not." Bjorn said. "I know he can hear us. Even if he is being too moody to say anything."
"Isin is going through more memories right now he can't hear us." Failsafe responded with a sigh. "Lets head back to the entrance to the blood maya."
Bjorn angrily lashed his tail at one of the walls letting out his frustration. Something about how Isin spoke was really getting to him. The cavern rumbled a little with cracks spider webbing along the place he had hit with his tail. He backed up as rocks and debris fell, sending a cloud of dust that left him coughing.
Bjorn tasted something new in the air. The cavern wasn't collapsing and as the dust settled he saw that he opened a path to a new passage. He had to close his eyes for a moment as they adjusted to the first light he had seen in weeks. Mana Tree roots glistened like stars in the sky along the walls, ceiling and even the floor. He could taste the earthy mana running through the ground.
"Well I am sure this will be enough mana tree wood." Bjorn said.
"Now all thats left is that crystal and we can return." Failsafe said.
"We will still need my memories." Isin's voice cut in.
"Our memories." Bjorn corrected with an edge to his tone. "And we are working on that. Unless you have a plan."
"I haven't seen all of your memories yet." Isin said as the head he controlled faced away from the others. "It is… nice to see that stars are real at least. The world I knew was bleak. I wonder what changed."
"Are you going to start waxing philosophical?" Bjorn said with venom.
"No," Isin said simply—and then fell silent again.
Bjorn exhaled sharply, his grip tightening on the stone beneath him as he stared ahead into the glistening cavern. The tension between them wasn't going anywhere, but for now, they had what they needed.
Bjorn walked up to the closest root and examined it. The light radiated from it like a fire blue-green in coloration with flecks of silver deep inside. It didn't look like wood. It looked like a smooth crystal that branched out into the stone around it. It was slightly warm to the touch but still felt more glassy than he expected.
He dug his claws into the root and with a sharp yank pulled it free from the stone. Bjorn's inventory was connected to the armor he was given by Laxy. It acted as a storage item not just to store itself away but also for all of his supplies.
A single armor piece rested at the base of his spine when the armor was stored away. Mana trees are like a delicacy to monsters; it would attract them for miles. Inside the storage however, he should be able to move without additional attention. He hoped that would be the case. The most important thing now was to get the mana crystal and leave before the monster got wind of him. Getting off the skyland? That was an issue for future Bjorn.