Simon had felt a strong sense of deja vu upon seeing Tide Blessed. Justus said it was a large city, but everything Simon had seen so far on this planet seemed like they belonged at most in the eighteen hundreds. Sure, Teshustoq had a bit of electricity, but that was only for the rich who lived near the top of the mountain town. He expected much the same in Tide Blessed, only on a larger scale and not built into a mountain. Simon realized how wrong he was when he saw the city on the horizon. The city felt like stepping into a completely new time period.

  The city stood on a massive platform, with gigantic floaters spaced out underneath, holding it a few dozen meters above the ocean. The city bobbed up and down, and large machines were placed at the edge, using the ocean waves to power gigantic generators, with thick steam billowing out their metal frames. Power lines stretched above roads, and though there weren’t any cars, there were many trollies moving across the streets. Buildings were crammed onto the giant platform, going almost all the way to the edge. They weren’t old-looking buildings either. While mostly wood, there were some near the center that were hundreds of feet tall. The architecture was completely different too, much more sharp and urban, without the hominess many of the old buildings in Teshustoq had. Simon got the feeling this city had been growing rapidly for a while now.

  Past his amazement at seeing a floating semi-modern city, Simon had felt a sinking feeling. The city moved. A lot. On the ship ride there, he’d learned quickly that he was prone to seasickness. He’d gotten better after a few days, but he still felt uneasy and off balance, and the stomach-churning feeling returned whenever he focused too much on the constant rocking and bobbing.

  Simon had quickly decided that the city wasn’t all that interesting and was very keen on leaving for Justus’s hometown, which was a proper city attached to the ground.

  “When are we getting out of this stupid city?” he whined. He was lying down on his bed, shutting his eyes and trying not to feel the way the bed moved underneath him. The room was dim, as they had the lights off and the thin curtains pulled over the window.

  “We’ve only been here a couple orbits. Justus told us it might take three or four," Kate said. Simon cracked an eye and looked at her. She was sitting in the sofa chair of their room, knees pulled up. Her e-book sat on her knees, shining its light on her face. Unlike him, she seemed to find the constant rocking enjoyable.

  Simon dragged his hands over his face and moaned. “I hate it here. I can’t sleep right when the whole place is moving around.”

  “You could always try a hammock again.”

  Simon shuddered. He’d tried that on the ship. As it turned out, he hated hammocks. Some of them, at least. The ones in Sho’s village had been fine. They’d been sturdy and wide, with a spreading bar that kept the netting in place. The hammock that Justus had let Simon borrow was much worse. The small and cramped hammock made Simon feel as though the fabric was swallowing him. The feeling was far too close to feeling trapped for Simon to ever consider it again. Kate knew that. Simon had ended up falling on his face after panicking when he’d tried Justus’s hammock.

  “Not funny.”

  Kate’s lips pulled into a small smirk.

  “Justus should be back any minute. Find something to do.”

  “Easy for you to say. You have entertainment. I wouldn’t be complaining if I had my PSP.”

  “Boo hoo, want me to read you a book?” Kate teased, swiping the screen of her e-book.

  “Ask me in a couple quarters, and I might be desperate enough to say yes. If I don’t die of boredom first.”

  Kate huffed a small laugh. Despite his complaining, he was glad she was finally talking to him again. For nearly the whole trip, she hadn’t even been able to look at him, let alone have a conversation. She had hardly said a word at all, in fact. As bored as he felt, having someone to talk to that wasn’t Justus made things a lot more bearable. Justus could have a interesting conversation about things he cared about, but that was a pretty short list, and bantering with him felt like trying to get a cat to play fetch.

  A small figure flitted out of Kate’s chest, floating in the air and stretching. She let out a loud yawn, then looked at Kate.

  “You could read me a book,” Lyka said.

  “Story time is before bed, Lyka.”

  Lyka groaned. “You always say that.”

  “Then maybe you should learn to be patient.”

  Lyka stuck out her tongue, then flew over to the window. “I’m gonna go out for a bit.”

  “You know Justus doesn’t like—” Kate began. She glanced over to the window to see that the spirit had already pushed it open slightly and turned into a thread of light that floated away on the wind. Kate sighed.

  “She’s going to get me in trouble with him again.”

  “I wonder what she does out there anyways.”

  “Probably out playing with the birds.”

  Simon made a disgusted noise. He didn’t hate birds generally, but he did hate the ones here. The city was swarming with birds that looked like seagulls with black beaks, and they chirped and cawed nonstop.

  The door to the room opened. Justus stepped in. He walked over to where Kate was sitting and took the only other chair. He sighed and ran a hand through his short hair.

  “What did he say?” Kate asked, popping her Kindle into her inventory.

  “People are freaked out. No one knows what’s going to happen once the gods’ deadline comes. Everyone has theories, from global war to the gods themselves descending down and ruling directly. Quintus thinks most people are overreacting, but no one is sure.”

  “Yeah, yeah, gods are scary. What about the ship to Talon?” Simon asked, earning an annoyed look from Justus.

  “Two orbits. He’s already sent me copies of the tickets.”

  Simon groaned. They’d be stuck here for over a week, then. It had already been five days since they’d gotten here, and he was already struggling to find anything to do. He didn’t know how people could live on this city-island thing. Then again, most people probably had friends here. All he had was Justus, who did nothing but training, and Kate, who was reading whenever she wasn’t also training. He did have Belle, at least, but she was barely better than Justus for conversation.

  “What do you think is going to happen?” Kate asked.

  Justus shook his head. “No clue. Outright war doesn’t seem likely. The kingdoms don’t really have formal militaries. Cities do, but the enforcers are technically under the Theology Guild’s control. But the guilds were under the Empress’s jurisdiction. If she’s really gone, then the guilds won’t have any real authority. Most will likely stick around out of pure tradition and inertia. Most cities would collapse if the Finance and Trades Guilds disbanded. The Adventurers Guild has always been a bit self-sustaining, so it won’t be going anywhere.

  “But the Theology Guild has always been the most exclusive and open about their devotion to the Empress and gods. If the gods become divided, I’ll bet the Guild will too. And if the Theology Guild fractions and takes the enforcers with them… Who knows?

  “As for the gods coming down, that’s ridiculous. The gods have no need to get that involved with mortal affairs.”

  “What do they do then?” Simon asked.

  “The gods? I don’t know. No one does. They’re gods. They’re immortal and think in time scales we can’t imagine.”

  “But they have bodies, right? So they must be doing something.”

  Justus sighed. “Go and ask the Theology Guild. I’m sure someone there would be happy to tell you all their theories for five or six hours.”

  “Yeah, I don’t care that much.”

  “Good. I found us another job, by the way. We’ll need to package some merchandise for a local business early tomorrow, so make sure you get enough sleep.”

  Simon groaned again. This time at least he wasn’t alone. Kate also let out a pained sound of annoyance.

  “This room doesn’t pay for itself,” Justus said. “And you two need to start saving up.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Simon said. “You’ve mentioned. I’m gonna go hit up the town and grab something to eat. Either of you want to come with?

  “I have food, and I already scouted out the city when we got here.”

  “Not hungry. Thanks though,” Kate said, pulling her kindle back out of her inventory. “If you see Lyka, can you make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble?”

  “She can’t be seen unless she wants to be. What kind of trouble can she get into?”

  “Just watch out for her. I don’t like her going off like she does.”

  "You two let her run off again?" Justus said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “If someone with the right skill sees her, and she’s tied back to us, that could mean trouble. She needs to learn to listen, and you two, especially you,” he turned to Kate, “need to learn to control her.”

  “She’s not a pet. You can’t keep her locked up.”

  “I know she’s not, but that doesn’t mean she can just do whatever she wants. Everyone has to do things they don’t want. It wouldn’t kill her to be careful. You need to stop encouraging her.”

  “I don’t encourage her.”

  “You’re soft on her. Every time—”

  Simon clicked his tongue to call Belle, then shut the door as he left. Justus and Kate could continue their argument alone.

  Simon had been out exploring the city a few times now, but he’d only scratched the surface of what it had to offer. Part of him itched to check out other areas, but the place was huge, and it would take too long. He’d settle with trying a new store at the food court near the park.

  The park was where they’d been practicing their Spirit Arts the past few quarters. There were plenty of open areas there and even a couple large patches of grass. But the grass was usually occupied. Since the lawns in the parks were the only places where the ground wasn’t wood, there were always people having picnics there.

  Besides the lawns, the park was a winding set of raised wooden walkways and platforms surrounded on all sides by plants. There weren’t many trees, but there were more tall stalks of plants and flowers than he knew existed.

  Simon paused at the food court outside the park, deciding on what to have for lunch. One of the places served squid. He had no clue if he’d like it, but it must be good, since there was always a long line.

  Before getting in line, Simon activated his Simulacrum skill. His clone coalesced in front of him, stretching out. Simon knelt down and picked up Belle.

  “Alright girl, time for some training. Follow the clone and practice your skills to catch some squirrels or something. Got it?”

  Belle barked, and Simon could feel a faint feeling of excitement and determination. The link he shared with her wasn’t quite as strong as it was the first day he connected with her, but he could still feel her emotions if he focused. The dog was definitely smarter than she’d been before, and she’d always been a smart dog. Simon wasn’t sure if she could understand every word he said, but she could get the general idea most of the time.

  “Good. I’ll get you some food, so make sure you work hard and earn it.” Simon looked up at the clone. “Make sure she doesn’t get in trouble.”

  The clone nodded, then took Belle in its arms. Simon watched them go before getting in line. He still didn’t like not having a name for his clone, but the things didn’t want one. One had ended up using a note to ask to be called Benell, but only after Simon unsummoned it did he realize the clone had been messing with him. After that, he’d given up on the name idea.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  The line moved slowly. The concept of fast food wasn’t universal, apparently. All the restaurants here made food to order. On the plus side, food was almost always fresh. When he got to the food stall, he ordered a plate with fried calamari and rice and a few grilled skewers. The woman at the register had to help him with the coins. He had forgotten if chips were the green diamond-shaped coins or the rectangular red ones and had given the woman one of the latter, which turned out to be worth way more than the food cost. He was glad she hadn’t just taken the money, so he ended up giving her a few extra bits.

  After waiting nearly twenty minutes, Simon grabbed his food and followed the path in the park to where his clone was. Walls of bushes and flowers towered over him on either side, making him feel like he was in a maze. He took an experimental bite of one of the skewered tentacles. It was weird, but not bad.

  When he turned the corner to walk onto the clearing his clone had settled in, he dropped the skewer in surprise. Someone else was here, and she was holding Belle. Simon’s mind immediately jumped to the idea that the stranger was trying to steal the dog. The shock and panic faded quickly. The woman wasn’t stealing Belle; she was petting her. She was sitting on the edge of the clearing, not running off, and his clone was sitting nearby. Simon had been around Justus too long. He was getting paranoid.

  The girl looked over to him at the quiet wooden clink of the skewer hitting the platform, her dark eyes meeting his. Her dark brown eyes widened, then she set Belle on the ground and stood up before waving. Belle ran over to Simon, jumping up on his legs. He returned the wave, more curious than worried now. The stranger didn’t look dangerous or suspicious. She was around his age, maybe a couple of years older. She had a kind and plain, if slightly long, face, without any notable features.

  She wore a faded red jacket and dark pants. Given the clothes and her short-cut black hair, he guessed she was working class. Although with the state of her clothes, she might have been downright poor or even homeless. The clothes were dirty and marked with oily stains, and the jacket was frayed at the hems and looked about two sizes too large. Despite the loose clothing around her chest, he couldn't help but notice the young woman clearly wasn't thin everywhere. Well, maybe he could've helped it, but he didn't.

  “Cute dog. What breed is she? She’s so tiny. I’ve never seen one like her.”

  “Not sure. She was a stray puppy when I found her,” Simon said. Thanks to Kate, he knew now that Belle was a papillon, but she also assumed dog breeds would be different here, like how all the animals were similar but not quite the same.

  “Aww. Who would get rid of a dog like that? That was nice of you to take her in, though.”

  “Uh, yeah. Um, who are you?”

  The girl looked caught off guard by the question, as if she hadn’t been expecting him to ask such an obvious question.

  “You can call me Kella. Is this yours?” Kella gestured to the clone, who was still sitting on the railing next to the plants.

  “Yeah, that’s my clone. It’s a skill.” Simon lifted his right hand, where he still wore his glove with the opal stone socketed into the backside.

  Kella frowned, then stepped forward and took his hand, pulling it closer.

  “An opal? You’re not jade ranked?”

  “Not yet. Soon, hopefully. Can I, um, have my hand back?”

  "Huh? Oh, sorry.” The girl let his hand go. “That’s a pretty solid clone. It can’t talk, but it understood me. You didn't hear my name when I said it earlier?”

  Simon dismissed the clone. Its memories flooded his mind, and he reached for them. Sure enough, the girl had been walking past and spotted the clone, which was why she’d approached in the first place. She’d given her name and tried to talk to the clone before realizing it couldn’t talk, so she’d asked it if it was okay if she waited here until he got back.

  “What do you mean? How could I have heard it? I was off getting food.” He raised the bag in case she hadn’t noticed. “I only get its memories once it's gone.”

  Kella stared at the bag for a second, then looked back up to him. “I’ve never met anyone else with a duplicate skill.”

  “Anyone else?”

  In a blink, a figure appeared next to Simon. It was identical to the girl in front of him.

  “It looks so real,” he said, looking her doppelganger up and down. It was perfect, down to the frays of her jacket.

  “It was one of my first skills,” the doppelganger said.

  “Woah? It can talk?” He asked, looking back at the real one.

  “Of course it can,” Kella said. Her doppelganger finished right after her, saying, “it’s me, after all. That’s why I’m curious about yours. How do you control it if you don’t know what it’s doing?”

  “Control it? It controls itself. I can tell it what to do, and it usually listens, but it’s got a mind of its own. I can take over and control it, but it's not very useful, since my real body sort of goes into a coma when I do that. Wait, are you controlling this one?”

  “Like I said,” the doppelganger spoke.

  “It’s me,” Kella finished. “It’s like being in two places at once. It’s not like that for you, though?”

  “Definitely not.” He looked between the two identical Kellas. “So you can see, hear, and feel both of them? At the same time? Isn’t that…distracting?”

  Both the Kellas shook their heads. “Two brains, twice as many thoughts.”

  Simon found the concept baffling. He studied the doppelganger again. This time, he poured Spirit into his Inkarin, the eye behind his eyepatch. Vision came into focus, piercing through the leather patch. He’d learned after experimenting that his eye could see through physical objects if he pushed on it with Spirit.

  When he looked at his clone with the eye, it looked much the same, since it was made of solid Spirit. The doppelganger was completely different. He could see Kella’s Spirit. It shifted and glinted inside her doppelganger, almost like a kaleidoscope, its surfaces sharp and angular, like one of those circus mirror houses on acid. Sometimes whole sections of it seemed to pass through the mirrors, making it hard to tell what was real and what was a reflection.

  Simon looked away from the doppelganger, then at the real Kella. The Spirit was inside her, too. It was in two places at once, just like her. As he shifted his focus from the Spirit to her, his eye noticed something strange. Her face was glowing, noticeably saturated with Spirit. A skill, maybe? He couldn’t ask without giving away his secret, so he ignored it and stopped pushing Spirit into his eye.

  “That’s incredible,” he said.

  Kella shrugged, though Simon could see her holding back a look of pride. Her duplicate vanished. It didn’t fade back into her like his clones but simply blinked out of existence. “It’s not that special. Yours is the rare one. A duplicate made entirely of Spirit has a lot of potential.”

  Simon gave a short dismissive laugh.

  “Doesn’t feel like it. I’m pretty useless in a fight. All my clones are good for is distracting and getting hit. Unlike yours, they can’t even pretend to be a real person, and they use up so much Spirit that making more than a few each quarter is impossible.”

  “I guess that’s true, but the benefits must be nice.”

  “What benefits?”

  Kella stared at him, looking puzzled.

  “They’re made of Spirit.” She said it as if that was an answer.

  “Right. And that’s better than a real duplicate because…”

  Kella continued staring, then she gestured. “Bring your clone out for a minute.”

  Simon did so. The smoky light poured from him, forming into the familiar white silhouette.

  Kella prodded the clone on the shoulder and looked at Simon.

  “Can you feel that?”

  Simon shook his head.

  Kella prodded again. This time, the tip of her finger glowed faintly with Spirit light.

  “And that? Concentrate.”

  Simon focused on the clone, then his shoulder.

  “Nothing.”

  “Try again. Focus on the connection between you and the clone. If it’s made of Spirit, then it has to still have threads binding the two of you. Spirit doesn’t last long in our world if it isn’t tied to a Spirit Artist.”

  Simon shut his eyes, focusing on the invisible tether between them. It was a vague thing: invisible and almost unnoticeable. He could sense its direction easily and could pull on it to pull his clone back in. When his skill had evolved, he’d been able to push on the connection, but that transferred his consciousness into the clone and would cause his real body to go into a coma-like trance. This time he didn’t push or pull but tried to feel out the connection. It was difficult. The threads were so small and so ephemeral. It was like trying to feel out a mirage.

  He opened his eyes, shaking his head.

  “I can sense it, but I can’t feel it. Does that make sense?”

  “Yeah, it does. I think I know your problem. You’re still thinking of your Spirit as something outside yourself, something separate. It isn’t. Your Spirit is a part of you, as much as your heart, eyes, and lungs. You don’t feel your liver, but it's still there, doing its job. You need to learn to feel it.”

  Simon raised an eyebrow. “My liver?”

  “What? No, your Spirit. Well, maybe your liver too. Body awareness is a big part of learning to get more control over your skills. It’s not intuitive for most people. Who’s been training you? Haven’t you been meditating?”

  Simon thought back to his hours spent meditating and doing physical training. Justus had said it was important, but he’d never really explained why. Or maybe Simon hadn’t listened, since Justus often explained things like he was reading a textbook.

  “I’m not really good at it. My teacher says it’s important, but I figured it’s probably not that big a deal.”

  “You should listen to your mentor more. He sounds smart. A lack of mindfulness is what holds most Spirit Artists back from the higher ranks. How—” Kella paused as a noise interrupted. Simon thought it was an animal for a second before realizing it was her stomach growling.

  Simon held up the bag of food.

  “How about you give me some more tips, and I’ll split my food with you.”

  While they ate, Kella talked through her thoughts about his skill. She gave him suggestions about how he might be able to use the clone in ways he’d never thought of.

  “You might even have a complete misunderstanding of the skill. It’s called Simulacrum, so it might not necessarily need to be a clone that resembles 'you.' You might be able to construct it before manifesting it, to shape whatever purpose you need. It’s hard to say, since even skills with the same name can be really different depending on the Spirit Artist, and I’ve never heard of that skill. What affinity does it fall under?”

  Justus’s warning from over a month ago echoed in Simon's mind.

  I would keep that Affinity close to the vest, actually. There are some people who would want you to work for them, whether you want to or not.

  But Simon didn’t sense any kind of danger from this woman. She seemed genuinely interested in wanting to help him. She seemed like a good person.

  He looked around before answering.

  “It’s a Spirit Affinity.”

  Kella’s eyes went wide. “Spirit? You have a Spirit affinity?” Her surprise shifted to a thoughtful expression. “That explains a lot. Of course it’d be a strong skill. Spirit is one of the most powerful affinities known. It’s why the Empress is…” Kella trailed off, looking morose.

  “I’ve never been one to pay much attention to that stuff, but it seems like she meant a lot to everyone. What made her so special? Aside from being a god, I mean.”

  “She was the last of the gods, but she was also the one who taught the others how to use their powers. Being a god, reaching Diamond, it’s not like the other ranks. It’s becoming fully realized as a Spirit Artist. When you reach Diamond, you’re no longer a human with a Spirit. You become one with it. Not human, and not Spirit. Something more. But it erodes the mind. Who you were before is lost. But the Empress had complete control of her Spirit because she had the Spirit affinity. She was able to give the gods stable forms. She saved their lives.”

  “If she can do that, why couldn’t others reach Diamond? My teacher says that those who do go insane. Can’t she do what she did to the gods for them?”

  Kella shook her head. “I don’t know. No one does. Maybe there was a cost, and she reached her limit saving the gods, or maybe whatever she did before can’t be done again. I’m sure she had a reason. The Empress was never… she wasn't the type to hoard power. She wanted others to succeed. She loved people. She was like a mother, and to her, everyone was her child.

  “You talk like you knew her.”

  “I did,” Kella said, then quickly added, “not personally, of course, but I was raised in a really religious home. I’ve studied her most of my life, and the other gods, but especially her. It just doesn’t make sense… how does a god disappear? They’re saying she’s dead, but the gods are immortal. Even if their physical bodies are destroyed, they can create new ones. Like I said, they’re more than human, and Spirit can’t be destroyed. It can change, but it’s always there in some way.”

  “Do you think she’s still alive?”

  “I… I don’t know. The Monarchs say she's dead, but… I don’t know. I hope they’re wrong, but how can all the gods be mistaken? They can’t be wrong, but I also can’t believe she’s really gone. I don’t know what to think.”

  Simon let out a sigh. When did his life become so strange? Two months ago he was worried about what to do during winter break, and now he was involved in a world of gods and mysteries he wasn’t at all equipped to handle. Even Kella, who claimed to have spent her life studying the gods, was at a loss. What hope did he have to understand what he was involved in?

  It had to be related. Kate and Justus had done the math, and the year the Empress supposedly disappeared was only a few years before the first monsters appeared on Earth. There was a connection, but they had no way of knowing what it was.

  “Sorry for bringing it up,” Kella said. “I didn’t mean to bother you.”

  “It’s fine,” Simon assured. He looked to the corner of his vision, summoning the digital clock of his guidestone’s system. “But it is getting late. I need to head back to my team.”

  “Oh, right," Kella said. “Well, thanks for the food.”

  Simon flashed her a smile. “Thanks for all the advice. I finally feel like I have a direction for my training. Do you think we could meet again? It’d be nice to train a bit with someone who really knows a thing or two about clone skills. I could pay you if you want. I have some money saved up from all the jobs I’ve been doing.”

  “Oh, no, you don’t need to pay me!” Kella said, as if the idea of being paid for help was an insult. “But I don’t mind helping.”

  “If you don’t want to be paid, fine, but at least let me treat you to a meal.”

  Kella still seemed like she wanted to reject the offer, but she nodded. “If you want, but you don’t need to.”

  “I want to.” Simon hopped off the side railing and bent over to pick up Belle, who had been dozing by his feet. “See you tomorrow then?”

  “Sure. Before you go, though, what’s your name?”

  Simon blinked. They’d been talking for nearly two hours, and he realized he hadn't given it to her.

  “Simon.”

  Kella tilted her head. “Odd name. I like it, though. It was a pleasure meeting you, Simon. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Before he could say another word, Kella shimmered, and then she was gone. Simon looked around. Kella was nowhere around.

  “Damn. I wish I could do something like that,” he muttered to Belle. “Everyone keeps saying the Spirit affinity is great, but it seems like everyone has way more style than me. We gotta start catching up, girl.”