I reach out a hand. The… copy… of me doesn't reach back. She flinches and looks away as if I was going to attack her. Is that really how I was? Because I don't remember being this skittish. Let's see what 'I' have to say.

"Hey, Shelby. Good to see you again. What's up? How'd you get here?"

My copy raises a hand to shield her face and starts to hyperventilate. Yeah, this isn't me. I didn't freak out and freeze when my coin first showed up; I took action and took the damn thing after Ursula and Noland gave me an ultimatum. So that brings up a very off-putting question; what the hell is this thing if not me?

I cross my arms and lean back. The room's still all around me exactly like before. Something tells me I'm not actually in the same place, though; I probably got teleported to wherever this trial takes place in a… small pod. Or something. If that's the case, then this could be a construct made to look like me. Even some kind of spell. I could really use some instructions right about now.

"Pearl, do you see me standing right in front of me?"

She nods. "It's you from when we met, but yes, I'm pretty sure it's you. Even the magic feels like the same stuff; minus the shellaiser and megalodane parts, I mean."

So it isn't just in my head. Or… well… Pearl's in my head too. So I guess that's still a possibility, although one that doesn't really mean anything. I pull out my Class Card to see if I missed any Quest notifications, but it's completely empty. Nothing from anybody since the questions about what happened to Ward. A sickening sensation rolls up into my gut the more I think about that, so I send the card away before it can do anything too bad.

"What's that?"

My own voice, but far more timid and quiet, comes out of the fake me. She slowly turns her eyes my way, two simple orbs that aren't impressive or memorable in any way; even the emotion in them is lacking. I can't believe just how… unremarkable I was before all this. The kind of person who dies in an accident and gets called 'a young woman' in the news all of one time before it moves on to the next story.

I tilt my head to the side and purse my lips. Something feels… off. More than just the fact that I'm staring at myself, too; there's something going on here. Whatever that is, it's the key to finishing this uplifting trial. Hopefully 'I' have some insight into this.

With a theatrical flourish, I summon my Class Card. "This?"

Not-me nods. "Mine doesn't look like that. What happened to us for our Class Card to look like that?"

"What happened?" I shake my head and laugh. "A whole damn lot, that's what. So when did the system pull you out of my brain? From right when I got sent to this world? Before I met Pearl? It has to be from before that, or else you'd have a shell on your head."

"A shell?" Not-me raises a hand to exactly where Pearl's shell was a few hours ago. "Why would I have a shell there?"

Pearl sighs through her nose. "She's just stalling us, Shelby. Can you send the Quest a message?"

"Good question."

I swipe to my messages and scroll through until I find a Quest notification. There's no reply prompt like with all the others, so I just bring up the keyboard and start typing with it in the background. A few simple sentences explaining what I'm doing right now and asking for a little help. I hit send. Before my finger leaves the card a response appears.

Why are you doing the soul trial at a time like this?

…No, I chose to trust you…

The object of this one is simple; overcome the person you used to be.

Embrace who you are now.

Definitely simple, yeah. I don't have any holdups about the Shelby I used to be; that woman had nothing going for her. Now I have so much more. I look up at my past, cowering under the weight of my present self's aura. Still, though… something just feels wrong. Like… if I do this… some part of me is going to be gone forever. It might be a part that I don't use anymore, or even one that's actively detrimental to my current self, but I just can't say. There has to be another way to look at this. Not as Shelby, or even as a human… but in a much more practical way.

This trial was specifically made to turn painted danes into paindne. How would overcoming the person you used to be help with that? Aside from the entire… well… everything about uplifting, I suppose.

"It's killing the past to make way for the future, then burying the past under a hundred feet of dirt so nobody can ever find it again," Pearl says bitterly. "The system wanted the paindne to forget they were ever painted danes. Or, at least, have absolutely no pride in the species they used to be. Do you care about the person you used to be, Shelby?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Do I? I snort in amusement.

…Wait, do I? If I do this, am I going to forget a huge chunk of my life? That sounds like it could have a whole host of unintended consequences tagging along for the ride. But… I chose to do this. To gamble on completing all the uplifting trials meaning something. If that means I have to forget some things from before I got my Class Coin, then so be it.

The me of today is infinitely more important than the me of months ago.

I steel my nerves and hold a hand out. The fake me looks down at it, then up at me. She's searching for something on my face that she'll never find. Because I'm not perfectly confident. And I'm not completely shaken. I'm just me. Ready to take on whatever finishing all four uplifting trials means for me.

"Okay," she finally whispers. "I get it."

Her hand gently grasps mine. She's shaking.

"Sorry about this," I apologize as I ready a projectile."

My fake closes her eyes and extends her neck. "Just make it quick."

I snap my projectile forward. It obliterates my fake's head in a whir of salt and gore. Like a light flicking on, something bright and warm blossoms in my chest. The fake's body crumples, fingers still tightly clasped in mine. Except now, the body doesn't look like mine. It's an amalgamation of flesh and construct material that's been mummified and abandoned for what looks like centuries.

Killing the past to save the future. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but it's necessary. The same message telling me I have fifteen stat points coming my way chirps onto my Class Card, and the dark closeness of the closet-like space collapses outwards to reveal a sprawling overgrown park. Parched vegetation creeps over stone benches, pathways, trellises, and a set of playground equipment that's just a mass of platforms and slides. All surrounding a green-tinted lake on which a single wooden boat floats, snared by so many dying plants that it couldn't sink if it wanted to.

"Plants. Plants?" Pearl states with befuddlement. "All these plants should be long dead. How are they still growing?"

"Love."

A voice like a pinecone clattering around in a bucket struggles out a single word. I turn, and standing right there is the least healthy-looking paindne I've ever seen. Sharp, dry plants pierce through almost every part of their body, stitching them to the bench on which they're forced to sit. Shackles bind their feet to the ground and arms behind their back, and though a raggedy blindfold covers half of their eyes, sharp plant stalks pierce right through it. Painting a painful picture of what the inside of their skull looks like.

"Love," I repeat flatly. "You mean they've been feeding on you for centuries."

A raggedy, creaking laugh shakes every plant in the park. "Yes."

I hiss a breath through my teeth. "Shit, that must be torturous. How the hell do we get out of here?"

"Out?" the paindne twists its neck towards me, thorns piercing its skin from the inside as it moves. "Oh. You."

"Me?"

"No. You In you. That you."

"The me in… do you mean Pearl?" I raise a finger and tap the side of my head. "What do you want with her?"

"Want…" the paindne pauses to take a breath. "No… I want… to say… sorry. For everything."

I raise an eyebrow in curiosity. "Pearl, do you know this guy?"

She shakes her head. "No. Not at all."

The paindne laughs again, though this one barely jostles the plants. "Good, good… better that way. Twice-betrayers like me… need be… forgotten. Once betray shellraisers. Then betray paindne. Now… thrice-betrayer I become. Quest."

Heat, light, and the quest appears at the ancient painnde's side wearing Ursula's face. It bends down and puts an ear at the painde's mouth. Absolutely no sounds come out, but the quest nods as if it knows what has to be done. Then it turns to me.

"You know what happens when a paindne dies?"

"Is this a trick question?"

The Quest shakes its head. "Nothing. There's no painidne afterlife thanks to the system, so the trees just… keep them. And the trees have kept this one alive for way too long. Do it, Shelby. It has to be you."

"Why?"

"Because you need a soul," the Quest says sadly. "For the way the quest was actually supposed to go… you need a heart, a brain, and the essence that makes you you. Finally, you need a story for it. Something to write your character into."

I narrow my eyes at the quest. "Body. Mind. Soul. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that last thing you said sounds a lot like Fate. I thought the point of the original quest was to bring the city back into the world."

"It is. But there were so many side objectives and branching main quest paths that it was supposed to take years to finish. That's neither here nor there right now, though. Even I don't know what happens when you get all three of the heretic parts and give them a story."

My neck snaps violently to the side. Red coats half of my vision. Pearl grimaces and starts chanting something, but it isn't enough. I can feel the system's influence trying to rip me apart at the seams. Through clenched teeth I summon another projectile and, without mercy, run the ancient paindne through. It dies with a shuddering sigh of long-awaited relief.

The Quest runs its fingers through the air, catching silken strands of nothing between them. It hurries over to me and places said strands on my Class Card, which identify themselves as the threads of a heretic's existence. Which leaves only the story part to 'complete' the heretic.

Before I can turn to… leave, somehow… the quest grabs my shoulders and stares deep into my eyes. Seeing the wrong personality behind Ursula's eyes is unnerving at best.

"You still have the magic of story on you," it says seriously. "Take the parts to the synthesis lab. I'll… I'll be waiting there for you. For you to save or kill me."

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