I agreed. Falshion pulled the wagon to the house and we all got off.
We had sailed here on the Ship of God after seeing a mountain that looked just like the one which held Lifecod village in the dream world. After setting anchor at the coastline, and riding the wagon here, we decided to stop at this house.
North of the house was the mountain, which looked very much like the mountain where Lifecod was located.
The house was a simple, one-room structure. An old man slept in the bed.
"Excuse me, sir," I said. "Do you have any information on Lifecod?"
"Lifecod?" asked the man. "It's that village on top of that mountain over there. You know, I dreamed of this town where merechants would gather to sell their wares. I once wanted top build such a place. But I'll never be able to finish it."
"Thanks for the info," I said.
Going back to the wagon, I came across this soldier. His uniform was that of the Reidock Royal Army.
"Excuse me," said the soldier. "I am a soldier from Reidock and we are looking for the missing prince." He showed me a sketch.
"He does look familiar," I said.
"We found a boy who looked just like the prince living on a village at the top of this mountain. But he must have been the impostor prince; there is no way such a coward could be the Prince of Reidock."
I got into the wagon and we set forth towards the mountain.
"So what's so special about this Lifecod place?" asked Chamoro.
"After my first encounter with Mudo, he bansihed me into the dream world," I replied. "I woke up in this village called Lifecod. I had a sister there, and apparently everyone there knew me. I still dream of Lifecod, sometimes. I want to find out what's over there."
"It is a good idea," said Muriel.
We began our ascent up the mountain. The place looked just as I remembered.
Suddenly, these hobbits carrying huge shields appeared; they were all armed with swords. We immediately attacked them and made short work with them.
Then I heard someone call my name.
I looked and saw this red-haired girl. I recognized her as Judy, the daughter of the Elder of Lifecod.
"Hi Judy," I said.
"You feeling all right?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah."
"Where's Rand. Wasn't he with you?"
"Uh, no."
"He doesn't seem to like you that much; he thinks you're getting between him and Tania. He's acted like that ever since Tania found you here wounded."
"Okay," I replied. "I guess I'll see you later."
We continued up the mountain. Some slimes and rock creatures attacked us. We took care of the slimes easily, and the rocks were much more difficult to destroy. Finally, there was one rock left, and it cast this spell.
Suddenly, the slimes and the other rocks all came back to life, while the spellcasting rock died.
"That's the GiveLife spell," says Barbara. "It revives allies at the expense of your own life."
"Perfect," I said, swinging my Sword of Slumber. "What will it take?"
We dispatched the enemies again after some spellcasting and skill-using. We then continued our ascent of the mountain.
As we got near the summit, I saw two people talking.
"How long are you going to keep up this charade with Tania?" asked this young man.
I looked and saw that he was Rand.
"What's wrong?" asked the person he was talking to. "Tania doesn't mind me living here. I'm still recovering."
That voice somehow sounded familiar.
He then turned his face. For a moment I could not breathe.
He looked exactly like me!
"What is going on?" asked Chamoro.
"We'd better just stay quiet and listen," I replied.
"You're not one of us," said Rand. "You're just a visitor, and visitors have to move on."
"But I've got nowhere else to go," my other self said.
Rand then turned to go to Lifecod. After a moment, my other self also left.
We then climed to the summit.
"You guys better wait here," I said, standing just at the town limits. "I'll go find out more about this other me."
"We'll be right here if you need help," said Hassan.
"Be careful," said Muriel. "That could be a demon."
I entered the village of Lifecod. It looked exactly as I remembered it. I even remembered all of the villagers.
"Didn't you just come in with Rand?" asked a boy, confused.
"Uh, yeah," I said. "I just stepped out for a while."
I figured the first person I'd talk to would be Rand. If I remembered correctly, he would be at the inn.
I went to a room upstairs. Sure enough, Rand was in his room.
"Why are you here?" he asked. "Are you here for Tania?"
"Not really," I said.
"Are you going to fight me?"
"Fight you? No, I won't."
"You're just a coward as I thought."
I left the inn; there was one place I must go.
Tania's house. My first clear memory was waking up there from a horrid nightmare.
The inside of the house looked as I remembered it, with a wooden floor, a kitchen to the left, and a bedroom with two beds to the right.
And sitting in the room was Tania, who looked just as I remembered her, with her blue hair.
"Hi, brother," said Tania. "Uh, did I just call you brother?"
"Yes," I said.
"I guess that's how I feel. I know Rand has been on your case ever since I took you in, but just ignore him."
I sat on the bed. "How did you find me, anyway?"
"You were wounded on the side of a cliff. Ypou kept bablbling about some demon king. You were bedridden for a week. You couldn't remember anything aside from your name, so the Elder decided to let you live here. Did you recover your memories?"
"No, not really," I asked.
I looked into the drawer that was presumably the one my other self was using. I saw royal clothes inside.
"I'll go see the Elder," I said.
"Okay," replied Tania.
I walked on over to the Elder's house. The interior looked the same as before.
"Welcome," said the Elder of Lifecod. "I see you're wounds have healed, but your memories are still pretty bad."
"I know," I replied. "I really do want to remember whom I am."
"Perhaps you should spend more time with Tania. You know she lost her parents when she was young; she told you that, right?"
"I recall hearing something like that, sir."
"She looks at you like a big brother."
I went back to her house.
"You saw the Elder, right?"
"Yeah," I replied. "I just still can't remember."
"Listen, maybe you can talk to the Elder again."
So I went back to the Elder's house. Goiung isndie, I can hear him talking to someone.
I looked and saw that he was talking to my other self.
I could see the look of shock on his face.
"What?" he asked. "Two of you. I must be getting sick."
The Elder retired to his bed.
"My other self turned and looked into my direction.
"You," he stammered. "You-you're me!"
Suddenly, we were sparkling.
I knew what this was. The same thing happened with Hassan when he found his statue back at Mudo's castle.
Suddenly, my other self ran away.
I had only one choice.
I immediately left the house. I looked around the village. But I could not find my other self.
Going out of the village, I got back with the others.
"Huh?" asked Hassan. "We just saw you leave. Are you you?"
"That other person," I said. "That's my real-world self. Hassan, remember when you fused with that statue? The same thing was happening when I caught up with him. But then he left before we could fuse. We've got to find him. Now!"
ooooooooooooooo
We searched the mountain for what seemed to be many, many minutes. We had to fight off some monsters along the way.
"Where is he?" asked Muriel.
"He could be anywhere in this mountain," said Barbara.
We finally caught up with him, inside one of the mountain's caves.
"There you are," he said.
"We've been looking all over for you," said Chamoro.
"I think I know what this means," said my other self. "We're actually one person, at least we were until we confronted Mudo. Mudo separated us. I think we have to rejoin, but I don't know."
"Know what?" I asked.
"Will you be me, will I be you, or will we become a completely different person. I'm afraid that I won't exist if we rejoin."
Suddenly, a boy called out my name.
"Monsters are attacking the village!" yelled the boy.
"Monsters?" my other self asked. "Oh no! Tania!"
And then he ran off.
"We'd better go back to Lifecod," I said.
The others silently agreed with me.
ooooooooooooooo
The first thing I noticed when we returned to Lifecod was the fire.
Most of the buildings were on fire.
The villagers were engaged in combat with the monsters who had invaded the village.
I drew my Sword of Slumber; none of us had to say anything.
We spotted a farmer attacking these two monsters. One of them was this huge green troll armed with a club; the other was this blue bipedal reptile with a wicked-looking axe.
Chamoro cast Increase to raise our defense and Hassan and I attacked while Muriel used sweet breath to put the two monsters to sleep. That troll hit us hard with his wooden club, and Chamoro had to heal us with healall. But we persevered, and the monsters fell.
"That was tough," said Hassan.
"Maybe we should head to the church," said Barbara.
And so we did. the priest was there with the villagers who were either too old or too young to fight; I noticed that he was the same priest who presided over the Spirit Festival so long ago.
"May God be with you," he said.
We suddenly felt energized; the priest had restored our strength.
We then went out of the church to mop up the floor with these monsters. We made sure to raise our defense with the Increase spell.
After killing some of the monsters, we went to the Elder's house and dispatched the troll and the reptile-creature there.
"Do you know what these monsters want?" I asked.
"They're apparently after you," replied the Elder.
After me? I knew where I had to go.
We all went to Tania's house.
"You," said Rand. "I thought you were in there with Tania."
"No time to explain, Rand."
And we all went in.
Inside the house, there was this four-armed demon, and he was battling my other self! Tania stood in the corner.
My other self was fighting valiantly with his sword, parrying the demon's blows.
But even that was not enough. The demon delivered a savage attack, knocking my other self to his feet.
"Now you die!" yelled the demon.
But then Hassan got into the way, parrying the demon's killing blow. Muriel, Chamoro, and Barbara joined in, dpoing their best to keep the demon at bay.
"You," said my other self. He was clearly injured; I could see the wounds of battle.
"Listen," I began.
"We must fuse," he said.
"what's this?" asked Tania. "Two of you."
"Listen, Tania," said my other self. "I remember now. I'm the Prince of Reidock. When Mudo cursed my parents, I went searching for a cure. I went to Mudo's castle with two companions. But Mudo set up a trap, and he split me apart. This other me is my dream world self. Only if we fuse can we defeat him."
"What will happen to you?"
"I don't know. I might cease to exist."
"No!"
"My other self grabbed my hand.
"Will you protect Tania?" he asked.
"Yes," I replied.
I started to sparkle. I glanced over at Tania.
Suddenly, there was bright light. A screeching sound. Pain. Heat. Cold.
I felt as if my very soul was being absorbed.