New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Alex's mind went blank at Geminae's words.

"I would be killing myself? What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

Geminae sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"How long do you think you were out?" he asked Alex.

Alex took a moment to think. He thought about the corpse pile, some of the decomposition of it, and the stench.

"About a week?" he replied, his tone uncertain.

"Ha. If only. The situation would be much better…"

"Stop turning around the pot, Geminae," Alex growled.

"Yeah, get to it so he can release me," the imp added, straining to speak through Alex's grip.

"Shut up, demon," Alex barked at him.

"Alright, alright. You've been out for a month. Thirty-four days, to be precise. Because of this, the connection between your body, soul, and our souls has become airtight. There is no more undoing us. We are forever bound together."

Alex didn't understand what he meant, and Geminae could see it in his lost look.

"You can't kill him or me because that means you are killing yourself. It also protects you from us, because we can't take complete control over your body anymore. Since we can't get rid of you, you can wrench control from us anytime."

In a way, he was relieved that he was no longer at risk of being a meat puppet. But something about this didn't sit right with him.

"Doesn't that also mean I can no longer get rid of him? Isn't having him in here bad for me? Or you, for that matter."

Geminae sighed loudly again.

"Unfortunately, it would seem all of our essences have become accustomed to each other. Which means I get to live with him for all eternity… Yay…"

The imp snickered through Alex's clamped hand.

"I'm not that bad, angel boy. At least, our power levels are the same. He's the weak link."

Alex slapped him across the face, making the imp look at him in shock.

"Whose the weak link? I don't see you getting free. Wanna try that again, bitch?"

The imp's faces became darker as the shame of getting overpowered by a human set in. But he couldn't break free; Alex was right.

"In any case, we are now dependent on each other. We can't just let you die anymore. It was already a risk before. But now, it's a guarantee. If you die, we disappear with you…" Geminae said, his head drooping.

Alex released the imp, which crashed to the ground, gasping for air.

He brought his hand to his chin, trying to understand the repercussions of this. Did this mean he was no longer a human being?

The imp started kicking at his ankle as soon as it caught its breath, cursing him for manhandling him, but Alex ignored it.

When he tired of thinking about this, he kicked the imp away before vanishing from the white room.

His eyes refocused on the surrounding cave, and he grumbled.

He checked his pockets, trying to find his phone, but all he found were pieces of it.

"Of course, it's shattered… When has anything ever gone well for me…" he complained.

He walked out of the cave, trying to see where he was.

He noticed he was in a dense forest, with mountains all around his position. The cave was at the foot of one, and he wondered if he could climb it and catch sight of a town or something.

Looking up the mountain, he saw the peak looked pretty jagged, and it would be a tough climb. But he couldn't care less.

Looking at his bloodied hands, he first decided to find a river, pond, or any water source in which he could clean the blood away. It took him a few minutes, as it seemed like those two twits in his head realized they would need water and had camped not too far from a small lake.

He noticed his body was filthy and decided he might dip in entirely to get some of the gunk off. But as he stepped into the water, chills went up his spine.

"The water is freezing! How far up north did we travel? And with a month gone by, we are now in September…"

Geminae replied to the first question in his mind.

'We ran toward the north, as it seemed in your mind like that was the least populated area. We ran at full speed for approximately a day. Which was why I was surprised when the old man found us, and we found a couple hiking…'

Alex closed his eyes and sighed.

What speed was full speed, he had no idea. And if they never got tired, did a full day mean over twenty-four hours?

He had no way of estimating their location…

'I can't walk back home from here… I have no idea which way to go and how long it'll take… I guess I'll have to use him…'

Washing up as fast as he could, Alex then ran back toward the cave to warm himself up a bit and looked up the mountain again.

He tried melding with White but failed to feel him inside him.

"Why can't I feel any of my soul companions? What did you guys do?"

He asked out loud, feeling his blood boil again.

'We did nothing,' Geminae replied.

'Yeah. You pushed them out when we took control. I thought I would get to eat some soul fragments, but it seems your subconscious knew better,' the imp added.

Alex seethed in anger at the nonchalantness the imp had said he wished he could have eaten them.

"Where are they, then?" he asked, his teeth clenched.

'They are in their world. You'll reconnect with them as soon as you cross into New Eden,' Geminae said.

Alex breathed in, trying to calm down.

How would he climb that mountain if he couldn't use White's claws or Morpheus' wings?

'Just use us,' Geminae replied to his silent question.

"Use you? Why would I do that? Aren't you the reason I'm in this mess?" Alex spat.

'It's irrelevant now. We both have wings, and red-face has claws. Since we are now part of the same being, you might as well use them…'

Alex thought about it, realizing he made a good point.

He was about to meld with Geminae, thinking of the wings, when they sprouted out of his back, this time without tearing through his skin.

'I forgot to tell you. You don't need to meld with us to use our powers. Not anymore. Yay, right?' Geminae said, trying to act cheerful.

But Alex was primarily confused.

'Just how far from a human being have I become…'