Lazy had led an uneventful life and an even more uneventful death.
When he met his oblivion, he was content. It was the longest and most permanent nap one could ask for.
When he closed his eyes and saw black, he thought that was it. Little did he expect to see light once again.
And life once more.
Life was a strong word to use for his and his fellows' situation. Through some type of mix-up, he now had to occupy his afterlife with four other versions of himself.
All attached to this one boy.
Or rather, himself.
As he watched the younger Kamrik lie down on the new bed he had worked for in the prestigious halls of Vanguard, he had to pity the boy.
He knew Kamrik was not actually a boy, but rather similar in age to himself, physically at least. The pity came from the impossible circumstances he had found himself in.
Taking on the task of 'saving the world' was something Lazy could never imagine having to endure by himself.
Of course, he had all the other incarnations here, but they could not actually do anything. At most, they were emotional support and teachers for him.
But honestly, none of them should be role models.
Especially Lazy.
His apathy had doomed so many, after all.
"Ahh..."
He pretended to yawn for the third time. He didn't need to sleep or even feel tired anymore since he was, well...
Dead.
But he did it regardless.
Old habits died hard.
As he rolled over in the air and prepared to pretend to sleep once again, he felt a slight tapping against his leg, followed by a hissed voice.
"Heyy, lazy bones. Wake up!" Sleazy whispered.
"I know you're not asleep. We can't sleep anyway," he mumbled.
Lazy sighed.
This one.
Turning over, he regarded the worst version of himself.
"What do you want?"
Sleazy scratched the back of his head.
"I was just wondering when this guy is going to wake up. It took until sunrise for him to wake up last time..."
He glanced toward Kamrik.
"Also, what about guarding him? What if someone comes in and—"
"Stop."
Lazy couldn't take this anymore.
Sleazy gave him a confused look.
"What do you mean?"
"I said stop."
A pause.
"Why are you acting like you care?"
Silence.
Sleazy held the same confused expression for a second too long.
"What do you mean, Laz—"
"Stop with this shtick. You don't have to act in front of me. I can already see it."
Another pause.
"Haha... alright."
The light vanished from Sleazy's face.
Not gradually.
One moment, the smile was there, along with the animated voice and restless energy.
The next, it was gone.
His expression settled into complete neutrality.
Hollow.
The light in his eyes looked like it had been snuffed out.
Or maybe it had never been there to begin with.
Lazy clicked his tongue.
"I don't know how you learned to emulate emotions that well, but it's damn creepy."
He could only look at Sleazy with contempt.
It was important to remember that they weren't companions.
They were dead men sharing the same face and the same unfortunate attachment.
Cooperation was simply easier than spending eternity fighting.
Sleazy only gave him a blank stare.
Eventually, he spoke.
"You know this is futile... right? This world can't be saved."
"This whole song and dance we're doing won't matter in the end. You know the Champion and Kamrik will never be ready."
Sleazy pointed toward Kamrik.
"This whole thing about stopping and preventing everything that happens in the future won't matter. Manus Fati is simply too strong. I would know."
"You know too, don't you? You're not as dumb as the others. Or as naive."
Lazy sighed.
That was why he called Kamrik a kid.
He was naive. He thought that since he had been given this opportunity, he had to do something to change the wicked future.
Knight was also naive, but that was because he was desperate.
For what, Lazy didn't know.
But he could practically see the desperation reeking off him.
Lazy knew better.
This future was already doomed.
He had seen what happened in his own timeline and heard enough about the others.
Manus Fati always won.
A cult with fewer than a hundred thousand members had survived for centuries and still managed to bring the entire world to its knees. Tier-seven mages and above hadn't stopped them.
Even the Archmages.
Even the Supremes.
Not because Manus Fati possessed the largest army or the greatest number of powerful mages.
They simply knew where the future was going before everyone else did.
Lazy wasn't stupid.
How were you supposed to defeat an enemy that could prepare for decisions before you even made them?
Lazy knew that.
Sleazy knew that.
Knight definitely knew that.
Bloody probably didn't care.
Kamrik was the only one who didn't.
Or maybe he simply didn't care.
After a long silence, Lazy shrugged.
Sleazy gave a humorless laugh.
"So it's not just me. I thought I was surrounded by crazy people. It's nice to see we're the same."
Sleazy crossed his legs and looked out the window.
"The future is set in stone, and if it can be changed, it's not up to us. It's best to just enjoy this weird afterlife and move on from it."
He snickered.
"Though it is remarkable that Carlos died. That was something."
Lazy fixed him with a glare.
"You know, you really do suck."
Sleazy only stared back at him, completely blank.
"I see why your reputation precedes you. Out of every version of myself I've met, you're the one I find the most disgusting. Not because you're cruel. Bloody is cruel. Not because you're naive. Kamrik has enough of that for all of us. Knight is desperate enough to cling to anything that gives him hope."
Lazy's expression tightened.
"You're worse because you know exactly what you are, and you don't care."
Sleazy didn't react.
Of course he didn't.
"You spent your life with Manus Fati. You became one of them. Every lie, every little performance, every fake smile you put on—you know exactly what you're doing. And somehow Kamrik still listens to you."
His eyes narrowed.
"Maybe those silver eyes of his aren't as useful as he thinks. Or maybe whatever he has seen has made him break."
Sleazy simply watched him.
Lazy clicked his tongue.
"And don't mistake us for being the same just because neither of us gives much of a damn."
That was the part that irritated him most.
"Your apathy is an escape. You decided nothing mattered because it was easier than caring about what happened to you. You run away from everything and call it indifference, and honestly, I don't blame you."
Lazy's voice remained flat, but something bitter slipped beneath it.
"I didn't get that choice."
He left it there.
Sleazy wasn't owed an explanation.
"I was made into it. You chose yours."
Lazy looked him up and down with open contempt.
"That makes you worse than the naive boy, worse than the desperate old man, and somehow even worse than that callous lunatic."
He continued.
"You're a runner. Even knowing there are people in this world who aren't even allowed the luxury of feeling—knowing her story—you still run. It's rare for me to feel disgust, but you... you make me feel it."
"Honestly, if I could spit on you, I would."
Sleazy's face remained hollow.
Lazy almost respected the consistency.
"But you do care about one thing."
For the first time, Sleazy's eyes shifted.
Barely.
Lazy caught it.
"You yearn to live a life of your own."
Silence.
"I see it every time that witch bows before him. That tiny bit of pleasure in your eyes when Kamrik gets to stand somewhere you never could. Every time he changes something that was supposed to happen, you watch closer than the rest of us."
Lazy grimaced.
"I'm waiting for the day you finally realize you can't have any of it."
Something in Sleazy's stare sharpened.
"The day that dark envy in your heart crawls back to the surface and you finally show everyone what you really are."
Lazy's gaze didn't leave him.
"That nothing changed."
His voice dropped.
"Not in life."
A beat.
"And not in death."
Sleazy's expression still didn't change.
But his eyes had.
Lazy leaned back slightly.
"That's the only part of you I believe, and that's all there is."
Sleazy stared at him for a long moment.
Then, finally—
"Careful."
Lazy's mouth twisted.
"Is that anger or despair—"
Kamrik shot upright.
Whatever Lazy was going to say next died in his throat.
The boy remained completely still on the bed.
Then his head turned.
Slowly.
Slower in Lazy's eyes.
His silver pupils settled on the two ghosts, a faint fog drifting from them.
Lazy made the mistake of looking back.
A sharp chill of sheer terror ran through him.
His thoughts accelerated immediately.
Twice.
Five times.
Twenty.
The room seemed to crawl around him, but the fear didn't.
That was wrong.
Thought Acceleration increased the speed at which he processed information. Given enough time, he should have been able to identify what he was seeing, isolate the threat, and reason through his response.
But there was nothing to identify.
Kamrik hadn't moved.
He hadn't attacked.
He was just looking at him.
Yet every part of Lazy screamed that if he continued looking back, something would happen to him.
Something permanent.
Why?
His accelerated thoughts tore through the possibilities.
Fear was biological.
Ordinary fear required a biological substrate. Sensory information was processed as a threat, autonomic responses followed, hormones entered the bloodstream, and the body prepared itself to survive.
Except Lazy didn't have a bloodstream.
Or hormones.
Or nerves.
He didn't even have a brain anymore.
And yet the response remained.
He was terrified.
Then Kamrik closed his eyes.
The pressure disappeared.
Lazy struggled to turn his head away, his entire form twitching.
He looked down at his shaking hand.
This isn't even a body.
So what exactly was shaking?
If the response couldn't be biological, then whatever had recognized the danger had to exist somewhere deeper than biology.
The soul itself?
Was it the self-preservation of the ego that was making him shake?
Maybe it was the mana that resided within the soul.
He didn't know.
Lazy frowned despite the tremors running through him.
They were only hypotheses.
Uncomfortable ones.
But at the moment, they were the only explanations he had.
Perhaps there was some equivalent of a survival response embedded directly into the ego—the part of him that recognized itself as him and desperately wanted to remain that way.
He finally managed to look toward Sleazy.
And immediately wished he hadn't.
Sleazy was hunched over, gripping his chest as ragged gasps left him.
Lazy felt another wave of unease.
Sleazy being this afraid was unpleasant.
He tried to glance back toward Kamrik.
Something inside him recoiled.
Don't look.
Instinct.
Lazy stopped.
Even with his thoughts accelerated, he couldn't reason himself past it.
Before he could examine that any further, a groan came from the bed.
Then a yawn.
"Gosh, how long was I out for? It's light outside."
Kamrik.
"Didn't I tell you guys to wake me up before class started? Now I'm going to be late on the first day..."
A pause.
"Or maybe I didn't tell you."
He laughed.
"Who knows?"
The sound sent another shiver through Lazy.