Shards of Infinity Part-2

I went back to my apartment and looked at the news. They indeed have a similar look, thus it appears that the police have identified my doppelganger as the murderer in the park massacre incident.

It doesn't appear to be a typical journal, so I picked up the weird notebook again to peek inside. Instead, it's a tool for communicating with your alternate identity.

It appears that I am harboring a different personality.

When I looked closer, I realized that this wasn't a typical journal because I was using it to communicate with someone rather than just recording my thoughts.

I carefully began reading the first page of this strange notebook when I opened it. Do I have a twin brother? It appears that this other side of my personality is that of my twin brother.

I experienced a strange memory about an incident at school where my brother was killed while I was trapped in a loop with my doppelganger.

After that flashback, I awoke to what I believed to be the 218th or 219th loop, but it would make sense if my alternate ego had taken over.

I set the book aside and stood up. Opening the window while I was breathing heavily, I took a good look outside my flat. I caught sight of several airships with the Valon Industries insignia and a tall structure that reached out and touched the chilly sky.

Compared to what I recall, the airships were futuristic. It appears that I have two sets of memories: one is from a universe in which I worked as a regular employee in marketing for a regular company; that world wasn't as futuristic as this one; and in that world, a crazy serial killer demolished my apartment.

The second set of recollections has me as a member of the team attempting to create human cloning technology in this futuristic world where I live. I also remember a few other things, but they are less clear than these two; in fact, they are so unclear that I could easily mistake them for dreams.

My father was ill, and I don't recall ever having a twin in my earliest memories. But wait, I did have a sister.

The old memories started to pour back in, and although I thought of them as just another one of my problems, they now seem really real. Memories are one thing, but I shouldn't be able to experience all of these feelings.

How is this possible since I remember spending my entire life here and have I actually lived two lives? Who among them is the actual me?

• BEEP • BEEP

The abrupt clatter of my wristwatch jolted me out of my thoughts. I glanced at my wrist, but all I could make out was the QS-Band that Aiden had given me.

My earliest recollections include them giving me this.

"FUCK"

What is genuine? I'm out of touch with reality, therefore I don't know what to do anymore. The alarm for my meeting with the therapist was beeping as I turned to the table on my right, where I kept my wristwatch.

After wiping the perspiration from my forehead, I made the decision to temporarily put everything else aside and go see my therapist.

*****

"Everything is messed up. I have no idea what's happening,"

Please provide more detail, Freddy.

Before me sat my therapist, who was examining me with what seems to be a soul-piercing level of inquiry.

"You recall I had dissociative identity disorder, right?"

"I do, yes."

"It's worsening"

"Has the personality returned? Have you spoken with your psychiatrist?"

"Yeah, I'm meeting with him tomorrow."

"Have you been properly taking your medications?"

My family therapist, who is also my present therapist, led me to the psychiatrist who prescribed medications to stifle my other personality. I suppose anything is possible in this day and age.

"Yeah, I have, but now I have a different set of memories."

I made the decision to be honest with her; I wasn't going to try to address a problem I don't fully understand by keeping information from her.

"What kind of memories?"

"In a time that seems, well, like it was 80 years ago, I remember working as a marketing agent in some manufacturing company."

In order to give an informed assessment of my narrative, my therapist patiently waited for me to finish speaking.

"I remember living my entire life there and one day a serial killer in a blue hat came to chase me with a chainsaw, I survived but he destroyed my apartment building, somehow I managed to escape but..."

"But?"

I couldn't think of how to respond when she asked me to finish the narrative, but I told her the whole thing anyway when she arched an eyebrow.

"However, it appears that I was killed by another serial killer who was chasing me."

"Are you sure that this wasn't a dream?"

"No, I just had a flash of this memory this morning."

"And where were you when this memory came flooding back?"

"I was in the park where the murder occurred, and the serial killer in my memory and the one who committed the murder both looked the same."

She obviously did not see the news this morning, so it appears that she is unaware of the murders.

"This is a strange situation; it appears you are making new memories; in neurology, Anterograde Amnesia is a disorder that prevents people from properly making new memories; it appears you have developed something opposite of that."

"What should I do, doc? I was suppressing my personality with medications, but if this continues, I might lose my job."

"Freddy, I recommend you get a brain check up as soon as possible; since you're seeing your psychiatrist tomorrow anyway, you can get one; this is an entirely new case, and I can't give an opinion without seeing the medical files."

Although I wanted to resolve this case right away, it appears I will have to wait. Her judgment was sound.

"Now tell me what circumstances lead your other personality to emerge?"

My therapist asked me the most difficult question: should I tell her about the loops? She could think I'm crazy, therefore it's best not to....

*****

It was late afternoon, but the clouds had totally obscured the sun; gaining sunlight these days is a luxury; ice particles had taken over, and it had been an unending winter since then.

I had just left my therapist's office, wanting to receive some answers for all the strange things going on with me, but she labeled it a new psychiatric problem and began looking for her own solutions as I was navigating the crowded road.

For this reason, I buried the loop on purpose, a decision I now kind of regret.

As I waited for the lights to turn green at a zebra crossing, the entire scene made me think of the time I attempted to save that girl from being killed.

There was no one else waiting to cross the road to save me, nor was there any dude in a blue hat staring at me until my eyes darted in front of me.

While the cars sped past each other on the opposite side of the street, I caught sight of Limbo who was grinning and staring directly at me.

Looking at his smug smile caused my body to tense, and I instinctively moved in his direction.

"What the fuck?"

I ran into the middle of the road before the light turned green, which caused the approaching car to immediately halt. I glanced at the ranting driver and recognized my error, but I had something else to do.

I glanced forward only to realize that limbo was no longer there. I sprinted to the other side and peered around; there was someone walking away in a black hood.

I ignored the jostling mob and ran straight for him, putting my fingers on his shoulders.

He was wearing a black hood and a black mask covering his entire face, but I knew what he looked like underneath because...He was me. The man turned around, and I had a good glance over his face.

I looked around as the man turned, finding myself in the middle of a gathering of people watching some police officers at work.

The me from that time stood before me, and I was in the position of my doppelganger.

"Amazing, huh?"

When I quickly turned to look at Limbo after hearing a familiar voice from behind me, the surroundings had returned to normal, and I was back in the same busy street.

Before I might have just run away from this guy, but now I want to know what occurred because I was surprised by what just transpired.

"Tell me, what's wrong with me?"

Aiden and his group were the only people who could have given me any type of answers, but they are now deceased, and Aiden is the only person I am aware of who could provide me with even the slightest suggestion.

Limbo responded to my query with a happy look and a somewhat bewildered countenance.

"What do you mean?"

"I MEAN WHAT'S GOING ON WITH ME"

I managed to control my rage and resumed speaking.

"What happened just now? Who are you, too? What memories are these? Who is the real me?"

The true me, huh? Who is the actual me? That's a fascinating question. Aren't we all looking for the true us, buried beneath our myriad personalities produced by our earthly attachments? Have you tried yoga?"

"No more...Why are you doing this to me?""

"Nah, dude. You are the one who is torturing yourself. We are accountable for our own pain; attempt once to assume a degree of responsibility.

I was irritated by his lighthearted tone and mocking grin, but I was also terrified of him.

"I don't need a fucking delusional psychopath to tell me about responsibility."

"Are you sure I'm the one with delusions?"

I couldn't grasp what he was playing, but ultimately, he had on his palms as I answered the question, he was waiting for me to ask. His smug grin just grew wider as he gazed inside my soul.

"What are you getting at"

He didn't even try to conceal his growing grin at this point.

"Are you sure that any of this even exists? And not some fantasy you concocted when you were lying in a hospital from a drug overdose."

That is a possibility I had thought about, but what I have gone through is far too real to dismiss it as an illusion.

"That...can't possibly be."

I was certain of it, but I sounded uncertain.

"But don't the states of these realities appear to be similar? Your mental state continuously deteriorates with each fresh start when you awaken in an unknown location, screw up and die, then flee to another unknown location."

"NO, you were the one who killed me each time,"

"Me?" He smiled innocently and pointed in the direction of himself.

"It's possible that you murdered yourself because you couldn't handle it, so are you even sure I'm real?"

"How did you manage to murder me if you're not real? Edward, Aiden, and everyone else?"

"The truth be told, you were the one who jumped off the building; if you have a grudge against me for killing you twice, come hit me."

I didn't see him attempting to harm me when he held out his arms in a showy gesture, but it appeared as though he wanted me to strike him.

"Go on..."

That smile infuriated me, and before I knew it, I had punched him in the face with my fist.

I hoped for him as hard as I could, but I never imagined this: I slipped and fell on the ground, my entire body passing through him.

He turned around and knelt down, staring me dead in the eyes with even more terrifying pitch-black eyes than before.

"Look around you," he said. "Do you know why all these folks don't give a damn about us?"

We were in the middle of a footpath, and the road was packed with traffic. I saw that everyone was going about their business without so much as glancing our way, as if we didn't even exist to them.

I didn't give a damn about the people around me; my main concern is...

"Who the hell are you?"

I asked in a dejected manner, but I just couldn't give a damn.

"Is that truly that crucial? Wouldn't it be better to escape this area as well, inhale some more powder, and let loose?"

I had no idea who I was, and on top of that the truth of it all isn't helping either, so I was afraid, scared to even look at this unknown man before me. Limbo grabbed a joint out of his pocket.

"How about you inhale some extra powerful stuff?""

I was startled, but before I could say anything, I noticed something behind Limbo. It felt like a distortion of space, but it was hard to see among all the streetlights at night. It appeared that Limbo had also detected it.

A silhouette of Edward, carrying what appeared to be an axe from a sci-fi movie, emerged from that distortion.

"Get out of here you fuck"

He yelled his rage out as he aimed his axe at the back of Limbo's skull, but Limbo twisted around to intercept the incoming axe with one hand, squeezing the metallic axe with his hands and blasting it.

Edward, who seemed to have foreseen this, used the axe as a foothold as Limbo grabbed it and leaped over him to reach me, who was still in disbelief over what was happening around me.

"JACKKK"

Edward grabbed me while screaming his lungs out.

[Jump Initiated]

As another distortion engulfed us, Edward's band's mechanical voice of Jack could be heard. Eventually, I was in another location.

A window provided the sole light in the area, which had a basement-like appearance. Aside from me, Edward was also there, catching his breath.

"You good?"

I was uncertain; I was terrified of everything and doubtful of everything. I scanned the room, taking in my surroundings.

"Hey, how are you?"

I moved backward a few paces in reaction to Edward getting up from his posture.

"What happened between the two of you?"

I couldn't help but ask the most obvious inquiry I had despite his unsettling expression.

"Are you real?"

"Is that it, what the hell?"

I took a few steps back as Edward approached me, but as he drew closer, I became more tense and eventually I dashed.

When I started to run, Edward caught up to me and grabbed me down because he had already anticipated it.

"Gotcha there, whatcha trying to pull here?"

I was concerned that Edward might be a delusion and actually be Limbo.

The grip Edward had on me was too tight, but I was able to escape it somehow. However, before I could escape, I started to feel a sharp pain behind my neck.

My eyes opened wide, and I briefly felt at ease from this sensation that reminded me of taking drugs before I passed out on the floor.

*****

"Urgh"

I opened my eyes to the same basement-style room ceiling.

"Good morning,"

Edward sat beside me, waiting for me to wake up.

"How long was I unconscious for?"

"Roughly 30 minutes. You seem to be normal now."

Yes, all of that paranoia was gone now, and I was able to think more clearly.

"What did you do to me?""

"I gave you medicine to help you feel better mentally."

When I was thrown into this mess, I was confused right away, and after a string of erratic events, I still couldn't understand what was going on.

"Explain what's happening to me. Do you even exist, or am I just high on drugs?"

I knew this was going to be a lengthy and difficult to convey narrative, but I was ready for it, so Edward took a deep breath.

"Since you were killed so frequently, I suppose I can't blame you for having doubts about your own reality."

"Stop talking in such a cryptic manner and explain everything,"

"I may not be a science nerd like Aiden, but I do know that we are traversing across the multiverse."

"Multiverse?"

"Yes, every time we die, we wake up in the body of our other self in a different universe with all of our memories, but the catch is that we also inherit the memories of our other self whose body we are inheriting, so dying a lot can result in an identity crisis."

When Edwards saw my shocked expression, he continued to say something that sounded absurd but also made sense.

"The multiverse is a branching structure expanded like roots, the universe beside you have a very minute changes, let's say you had sandwiches for breakfast but the other you from a different universe had eggs, so if you die and wake up in his body you won't feel anything because the difference in memory is essentially negligible. However, if you travel too far from the root universe, which we refer to as where you were born, the changes will start to get larger, and perhaps you're a serial killer in one of them. This will eventually cause your mind to wonder whether you're an upright citizen or a serial killer"

"What happens to the person who owned the body before me if I inherit it?"

"He remains in your body with you."

"What? like a different personality?"

If this were the case, it would make sense why my other personality would emerge during the loop.

"No, your memories just cross over from one universe to another after death; they blend with your other self, but your memory will be more powerful than your other self."

"Why?"

Although Edward sighed in response to my query and appeared to be explaining something to a young child, he nevertheless complied.

"Can you recall any of your dreams?"

"Uh, some of them,"

"We rarely recall our dreams unless they were particularly significant—for example, if we died in the dream or experienced a great deal of anxiety. In simple terms we only remember those dreams that have had an impactful emotion with it. Death is the granddaddy of all impactful emotions, therefore after you pass away, your memory and the memory of your other self collides, and the one with the more overwhelming feeling takes precedence over the others."

I guess it's true now that I think about it. I always believed I was the same Freddy when I awoke in a different universe, and the memories began to return as soon as I engaged with the environment.

"Did I develop a different personality?"

"Technically, no, but yes"

"Huh?"

"The version of you in the universe that you had had a twin who was murdered at a young age in front of his eyes and he formed another personality of his twin brother, which is something you now have inherited along with his memories, according to my data from Jack."

So I really screwed up.

"Don't worry," Edward said after noticing my strained expression, "I've stabilized your mind with that injection."

"Yeah...thanks"

"Why are there so many clones and experiments in the universes I travel through?"

This was another unanswered question I had.

"It's only the branch you're traversing."

"What?"

"The multiverse is made up of an endless number of branches, each of which has some characteristics in common with your branch—namely, that your universes appear to have clones or some sort of cloning experiment in common."

"Why is this happening, and is it affecting everyone?"

"The only thing I know is that only a few people are experiencing it; as for why, well, I guess Aiden could explain it to you much better; it's some kind of Glitch in the multiverse."

"He is still alive?"

"Well, c'mon, we have to regroup with them. Remember, we can't technically die."

"Are they here?"

"No, we have to teleport there because they are in a different universe."

I cocked my head in perplexity at yet another mystery.

"Oh yeah," Edward groaned, "the QS-Bands, they stand for Quantum Shift Bands, which allows you to teleport from one universe to another; previously, it required a significant amount of energy to teleport, but now that there has been a glitch, the barriers between the various universes are essentially gone. It also is programmed to automatically trace your quantum data and teleport to your new body in case you get yourself killed"

I observed the band that was fastened to my arm.

I can teleport from one universe to another thanks to this device.

"Yes, that's how I discovered your location as well. Prepare yourself for the spatial distortion."

"Wait, wait..."

I inhaled deeply and posed my last query.

"How can we put a stop to all this?"

I had to ask since everything seemed so silly and, to be honest, I wasn't sure how to restore the multiverse.

"I don't know, Aiden seems to have a plan, but me might just lose it all,"

"Then..."

"You know how I ended up in this mess and how I died in my original world?"

"huh?"

"I was a soldier, and I was deployed on an island with a fifty-man unit to repel an entire army trying to attack our country; there was no hope of survival, and I eventually died, but...I'm used to fighting a losing war; I might as well die trying than run away."

This time, Edward's posture was firmer than usual, and as soon as he finished speaking, a spatial distortion engulfed us and sucked us out of that reality.