NOVEL NEXT Chapter 28 - I am You
Day Three
The system's promised "emotional processing" during sleep left Nick with vivid dreams—fragmentary scenes, the garden with two suns followed by memories of Arlize's life interwoven with his own memories, creating strange hybrid scenarios where past and present merged in ways that defied linear time. He woke feeling as if he hadn't rested at all, his mind still processing the kaleidoscope of images and sensations.
4:53 AM again. Seven minutes before Val's wake-up call.
Nick performed his now-familiar self-assessment. The physical injuries from yesterday had largely healed thanks to the specialized meals, leaving only faint bruises and a general muscle soreness that spoke more of exertion than damage. The mental fatigue was another matter—a persistent pressure behind his eyes and a strange doubled awareness that made focusing difficult.
🜂【ARCΛDIΛN SYSTΞM INTERFΛCE – BASELINE METRICS】🜂
Integration: 49.2%
Physical Recovery: 87.3% complete
Mental Fatigue: Moderate (compensating)
Projected Integration Timeline: Suboptimal
Recommendation: Address psychological barriers
[Status suppression commencing…]
Val's two sharp knocks came exactly at 5:00 AM.
"Combat arena. Five minutes," she announced through the door.
Nick closed his eyes briefly, steeling himself. The last two days had hurt; he wasn't sure he could handle anymore today.
When he arrived at the combat arena, Val was already there, performing a warm-up routine that made even her simplest movements appear lethal. Her body flowed through the forms with the precision of decades of disciplined practice.
"Yesterday we found that if you're not thinking, you're able to hold the connection more easily," she said, beginning without preamble as Nick approached. Facing him fully, her dark eyes held a calculating gleam. "We'll continue that approach for the rest of the week or until you are able to move without second guessing your decisions."
She gestured to the center of the arena, where a simple circle had been drawn in luminescent mana-reactive paint. "Enter the circle. Exit only when you access Arlize's combat reflexes without conscious thought. Or when you can no longer stand. Whichever comes first."
Nick stepped into the circle, a sense of foreboding rising within him. Val followed, taking a position opposite him.
"What are the rules?" he asked, trying to prepare mentally.
Val's smile was cold. "Survive."
She moved without warning—not the measured, instructional attacks of previous sessions, but a full-speed assault that left no room for thought or hesitation. Nick barely managed to deflect the first strike, the impact sending shock waves through his forearm.
Val's second strike caught him in the ribs, light enough to avoid lasting damage but powerful enough to drive the air from his lungs. The third swept his legs from under him, sending him crashing to the mat.
"Up," Val commanded, not even breathing hard. "Again."
Nick struggled to his feet, his body already protesting.
The second exchange lasted marginally longer than the first, but ended the same way—Nick on the ground, struggling to breathe. Val circled him.
"You're thinking too much again," she commented. "Analyzing angles, trying to remember techniques. By the time your mind processes the information, the moment is gone." She gestured for him to rise again. "Stop thinking."
This pattern continued for what felt like hours but was likely only twenty minutes. Each time Nick rose, Val took him down with ruthless efficiency.
However, through the growing haze of pain and exhaustion, Nick became aware of a shift in the usual pattern of his thoughts. The desperate calculations and conscious movement selection were giving way to pure survival instinct that cut through the layers of cognitive processing.
Val came at him again, a strike aimed at his solar plexus that would end the session if it connected. For the second time this week, time seemed to slow. The world narrowed to Va's movements as she came for him.
Nick felt a strange surrender within himself. The rigid boundary he'd maintained between "himself" and "Arlize" dissolved. For seven seconds, Nick's consciousness stepped aside. His body moved with fluidity, each motion precise and devastating. He blocked from muscle memory that wasn't his—a spiraling redirect that caught Val's strike at its weakest point and channeled its force harmlessly past his core. His counter instinctive—fingers striking a pressure point with surgical accuracy, disrupting the flow of both blood and mana.
Val's eyes widened a fraction—the most expressive she'd been so far. In that fleeting moment, Nick felt it all—the probabilities of combat and Arlize's accumulated knowledge. He was both an observer and a participant, as his body executed martial movements he'd yet to learn.
Then, just as quickly, seven seconds passed.
Val recovered instantly, adapting to the unexpected response, but there was the faintest flicker of approval in her eyes. Instead of pressing the attack, she stepped back, studying him.
"There it is again," she said simply. "That's what we're looking for."
Nick blinked, the moment of perfect integration already fading. His body sagged as fatigue crashed back over him, muscles trembling with exhaustion.
"You need to see if you can hold it longer," Val said, handing him a water bottle. "For seven seconds, you stopped fighting yourself and moved as one. Now, we need to stretch that window—second by second—until it becomes natural."
Nick staggered to the edge of the arena, collapsing onto a bench. Every muscle screamed in protest, and his lungs burned with each breath. Yet beneath the physical discomfort was a strange sense of affirmation, pride and hope. He didn't know if these were his feelings or those of Arlize. But those seven seconds were proof that integration was possible, even if it was only for a moment.
Val watched him with clinical detachment. "Rest. Eat. Rehydrate. Francisco expects you at the harmonization chamber in sixty minutes."
Taking another sip of water, Nick leaned his head back against the bench and closed his eyes.
Just seven second.
Breathing out a sigh, he checked his phone, it was 8am. He might as well get breakfast from the cafeteria to heal his wounds. He had a feeling he would need all the energy he had for later in the day.
The harmonization chamber felt different today—the air heavy with a tangible energy that made the hairs on Nick's arms stand on end. Francisco waited for him at the center, the two crystal orbs already positioned on their pedestals.
"Val tells me you achieved momentary combat integration," his abuelo said, his expression thoughtful. "A promising development, but one that highlights the heart of your challenge."
Francisco gestured for Nick to approach, bringing up a holographic display that showed a three-dimensional representation of Nick's dual mana core. The visualization was mesmerizing—a violet sphere containing a smaller blue-white sphere, the two energies separated by a thin barrier that pulsed with opposing frequencies.
"This is your current state," Francisco explained, pointing to specific sections of the display. "Your natural mana signature—" he indicated the violet sphere, "—contains but does not integrate with Arlize's essence." His finger moved to the blue-white inner sphere. "The barrier between them weakens under extreme stress, allowing temporary synchronization, but reforms when the threat passes."
Nick studied the display, fascinated by the visual representation of his internal conflict. "So the barrier is the problem?"
"The barrier is a symptom, not the cause," Francisco corrected. "It forms because you perceive Arlize's essence as something foreign—something to contain rather than incorporate. We talked about this yesterday as you worked to push both Arlize's and your mana into separate spheres."
The holographic display shifted, zooming in on the boundary between the two energies. At a microscopic level, Nick could see the barrier wasn't solid but composed of thousands of tiny rejection points where the two energies repelled each other.
"Today we try a different approach," Francisco said, dismissing the hologram with a gesture. "Instead of forcing the barrier to dissolve through stress, we will attempt to harmonize the frequencies on either side."
He indicated the crystal orbs—one clear, one deep grey—sitting on their pedestals. "These resonance orbs will externalize your dual energies, making their interaction visible and, hopefully, manageable."
Nick positioned himself between the pedestals, placing one hand on each orb as he had yesterday. The crystals were cool to the touch, vibrating subtly with potential energy.
"Focus first on separation," Francisco instructed. "Direct your natural mana into the clear orb, and Arlize's signature into the grey one. Complete distinction before attempting harmony."
Nick closed his eyes, concentrating on the distinct feelings of each energy source within him. His own mana felt familiar—warm, responsive, flowing like water through channels he'd known all his life. Arlize's energy was different—cooler, more structured, moving with the precision of machinery rather than the organic flow of natural mana.
Gradually, the orbs responded. The clear crystal began to glow with violet light, while the grey one emanated a blue-white radiance that cast sharp shadows across the chamber.
"Good," Francisco nodded approvingly. "Now, while maintaining the separation, try to find complementary frequencies between them. Where do they align rather than oppose?"
Nick focused on the vibrations emanating from each orb, trying to detect patterns or rhythms where the energies might synchronize rather than cancel each other out. But the more he concentrated, the more discordant the frequencies became. The orbs began to shake, their energies growing more chaotic as his frustration mounted.
"I can't find it," he admitted after several failed attempts. "They're too different."
Francisco considered him thoughtfully. "Perhaps you're approaching this too analytically. This isn't a problem to be solved through calculation."
"Then how?"
The answer came not in words but in sensation—a memory from his childhood of playing two different musical notes on a piano and finding the harmony between them. Not by forcing one note to become the other, but by allowing them to exist simultaneously, each maintaining its identity while creating something new through their interaction.
For a brief moment, the crystals' vibration changed tenor—moving toward synchronization rather than opposition. The chaotic interference patterns began to organize themselves into more coherent forms, the beginnings of harmony emerging from discord.
The moment passed quickly, the orbs returning to their discordant vibrations, but Francisco's expression had brightened considerably.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"There," he said, satisfaction evident in his voice. "A breakthrough, however brief."
"It wasn't enough," Nick said, disappointment coloring his tone. "I couldn't sustain it."
"Partial success is still success," Francisco countered. "More importantly, you discovered an approach that works—harmony rather than dominance. The musical analogy resonated with both aspects of your nature." He checked the time. "We've made sufficient progress for today. Maria is waiting for you in the east wing."
Nick looked up, surprised. "Abuela? I thought I'd be working with you all afternoon."
Francisco's expression turned solemn. "What comes next requires a different kind of guidance than I can provide. The mind and heart need as much training as the body and mana channels." He placed a hand on Nick's shoulder. "Be brave, Nicolás. What awaits will not be easy, but it is necessary."
The east wing of the compound was unfamiliar territory—a section Nick hadn't explored during his brief time at the facility. The architecture here felt older somehow, with narrow corridors of stone rather than the modern construction of the training areas.
Maria waited for him at the end of a long hallway, standing before an ancient wooden door carved with symbols that Nick recognized from Arlize's memories as pre-Aurilian in origin.
"Nicolás," she greeted him, her eyes warm but serious. "I understand you've made progress with both Val and Francisco today."
Nick nodded, suddenly apprehensive. There was something about this place, about the gravity in his abuela's expression, that suggested whatever came next would make the morning's combat session seem like a warm-up exercise.
"What is this place?" he asked, eyeing the carved door.
"The Reflection Chamber," Maria replied. "It dates back to the earliest days of the Arcadian Initiative, though the techniques we'll use within are much older still." She studied him carefully. "Your integration is approaching a critical threshold, but emotional barriers are impeding your progress. Today we address those barriers directly."
She placed her hand on the door, which recognized her touch and swung inward silently. The chamber beyond was circular, its walls lined with polished obsidian panels that reflected light in strange, distorted patterns. The floor featured concentric circles of inlaid silver, each inscribed with symbols that pulsed faintly with mana.
At the center stood a single chair, surrounded by a ring of crystalline pillars.
"Sit," Maria instructed, indicating the chair.
Nick hesitated, instinctive caution making him reluctant to enter further. "What exactly happens here?"
"Emotional confrontation," she answered simply. "The chamber amplifies and externalizes internal conflicts, forcing them to the surface where they can be addressed rather than suppressed." Her expression softened slightly. "It will not be pleasant, Nicolás, but it is necessary for your progression."
That is what they always say
Steeling himself, Nick crossed the threshold and took the seat. The chair adjusted automatically to his form, ergonomic despite its ancient appearance.
Maria moved to a control panel near the wall, her fingers dancing across its surface with practiced ease. "The chamber will respond to your unique psychological profile, targeting the specific emotional barriers that impede your integration. The process typically lasts thirty minutes, though it may feel significantly longer to you."
The crystalline pillars around Nick began to glow, each emitting a different colored light that bathed the chamber in a kaleidoscopic radiance. The obsidian panels on the walls seemed to drink in the light, reflecting it back in patterns that grew increasingly hypnotic.
"Remember," Maria said, her voice seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere as the chamber's acoustics shifted, "what you experience is drawn from your own mind. It cannot truly hurt you unless you allow it to. Face each emotion fully rather than turning away."
The lights intensified, and the air in the chamber grew thick with mana. Nick felt a strange pressure building in his mind, as if something were pressing against the barriers of his consciousness from both within and without.
Then the world dissolved around him.
He stood in the kitchen of his childhood home, exactly as it had been the morning his parents left for their final trip. The details were perfect—the chipped blue mug his father always used for coffee, the stack of academic journals on the counter that his mother had been meaning to read, the calendar on the wall showing the date they would never return from.
His parents sat at the table, looking at him with expressions of profound disappointment.
"You're resisting your heritage," his father said, his voice achingly familiar. "We gave everything to prepare you, and you fight against it at every turn."
"We died protecting what's inside you," his mother added, her eyes filled with a sadness that cut Nick to the core. "Does our sacrifice mean nothing to you?"
Intellectually, Nick knew these weren't really his parents—just projections created by the chamber from his own fears and insecurities. But the emotional impact was no less devastating for that knowledge. The guilt he'd carried since their deaths rose up like a physical force, threatening to drown him.
"I'm trying," he protested, hating how weak his voice sounded. "I don't even know what you were preparing me for. You never told me!"
"We showed you in a thousand ways," his father countered. "The training disguised as games. The stories that were really history. The exercises that built your mana channels before you even knew what mana was."
The scene shifted. Nick now stood in a hospital corridor, watching his younger self sitting beside his grandfather's bed after the stroke that had nearly taken Francisco's life three years ago.
"You could have saved him," his mother's voice whispered from nowhere and everywhere. "If you had embraced your abilities sooner, you would have known how to stabilize his condition. Your resistance has consequences for everyone you love."
The guilt twisted inside him, sharp-edged and burning. He wanted to argue, to defend himself, but the accusation struck too close to buried fears he'd never fully acknowledged.
The scene changed again, more rapidly now. He stood on the Westlake campus, watching Sarah and Matt from a distance, their faces twisted in mockery.
"Did you really think someone like her could love someone like you?" Matt's voice taunted. "You're a freak. An abomination. Do you think you can save the world?"
"Naive and stupid," Sarah added, her once-warm eyes now cold with disgust. "You didn't even know that we only spent time with you because of your Acadian affinity.
The chamber was ruthlessly efficient, targeting each emotional vulnerability with precision. Scene after scene confronted him with failures, fears, and insecurities drawn from the darkest corners of his mind.
Then came the memories that weren't his—Arlize's experiences bleeding through with increasing intensity. The betrayal at the hands of those he himself trained. The slow-acting poison that had clouded his mind before finally taking his life. The desperate attempt to preserve his consciousness as his body failed.
The emotional bombardment was relentless, each scenario calibrated to provoke the maximum response. Nick felt his defenses crumbling under the assault, the careful compartmentalization he'd maintained between his dual identities beginning to dissolve.
"Don't resist the emotions, Nicolás," Maria's voice enveloped him like a warm blanket even as the chamber's energies tore through his defenses. There was steel beneath the softness, the unyielding certainty of someone who had faced her own emotional demons and emerged victorious.
"They are not your enemies to defeat but messengers to hear. Move through them. Honor their presence. Experience them fully—" her tone dropped to a whisper that somehow penetrated the chaos, "—and then, mi querido, let them pass through you like wind through grass.
Twenty-three minutes into the session, the chamber's energy patterns shifted. The obsidian panels pulsed with increased intensity, and the crystalline pillars emitted a harmonic tone that seemed to resonate with both aspects of Nick's dual nature simultaneously.
The scene before him dissolved, replaced by a formless void where two distinct figures materialized—himself and Arlize, standing face to face for the first time outside the fragmented dream-space of partial memories.
Arlize appeared as he had in his prime—tall and imposing in the casual attire of an Aurilian High Noble, his dark blue eyes which held centuries of knowledge, bored into Nick.
"Why do you fear me," Arlize stated without preamble, his voice echoing in the void. "Why do you fear what accepting me would mean for your own identity."
"Wouldn't you?" Nick countered. "Some... entity from another dimension and time, starts taking over your mind piece by piece?"
"Is that what you believe is happening?" Arlize asked, genuine curiosity in his tone. "That I seek to supplant you?"
"Isn't it? Every memory, every skill I gain from you dilutes who I am a little more."
Arlize was silent for a moment, considering. "Perhaps I have misunderstood our situation as much as you have. I do not wish to replace you, Nicholas Valiente. I merely wish to fulfill the purpose of my preservation—to pass on what I knew, what I was, who I am, to a worthy successor."
"And then what?" Nick demanded. "Once I've integrated all your memories, all your abilities—what remains of me? What remains of you?"
"Everything," Arlize said simply. "You will remain yourself—only enhanced by the knowledge and experience I offer. My memories, my skills, they are tools for you to wield, not chains to bind you."
He paused, his voice softer now.
"As for me... I remain, too—changed not in essence, but in understanding. Through you, I will know the world you call Earth. But functionally, we are not separate beings stitched together. We are—and always have been—facets of the same whole. You and I are one, Nicolás. I am you."
Those words struck Nick more than anything else Arlize had said. I am you.
"What do you mean you're me?" Nick question.
Holding his gaze evenly, Arlize responded. "I don't know how it happened or even why, but I am you. Your soul and my soul, they are one."
The confrontation shattered the last of the resistances Nick had built within himself. In a moment, he understood: Arlize wasn't an invader, he was Nick. Himself just changed by a different reality and time.The barrier between them had been a prison of his own making, constructed by his subconscious after receiving the first key fragment. Yet in severing himself off from Arlize, he had been severing himself off from a part of his own soul.
As the revelation took hold, the chamber's energies reached a transcendent crescendo. Nick felt a profound metamorphosis ignite within, an aligned that clicked into place. With this, he felt the boundary he had placed between his souls dissolve, the two halves of himself made whole once again.
The void disappeared, and Nick found himself back in the physical chamber, gasping as if he'd run a marathon. Maria stood beside him, her hand on his shoulder.
"Breathe, Nicolás," she instructed gently. "The transition can be disorienting."
The chamber had powered down, the hall's pillars now dark and inert. Nick's entire body trembled, but beneath the fatigue his mind felt...quiet. It seemed that he had not been aware of the constant conflict within his own mind. Now however, in its absence, a strange serenity settled over him.
Maria helped him to his feet, guiding him from the chamber into an adjoining room where a comfortable chair and a steaming pot of tea awaited.
"The worst is over," she assured him, pouring the fragrant liquid into a cup. "This will help stabilize you."
Nick accepted the tea gratefully, noting the calming properties of the tea herbs.
"What happened in there?" he asked once he'd regained enough composure to speak clearly. "It felt like... like something broke, but in a necessary way."
Maria nodded, taking the seat across from him. "The mental barriers that impeded your integration were largely unconscious—defense mechanisms your mind established to maintain what it perceived as your core identity. The chamber forced those barriers into awareness where they could be examined and, where appropriate, released."
She studied him. "Your integration has reached a critical threshold—fifty percent marks the point where harmony becomes self-sustaining. The process will continue naturally now, though further sessions may be beneficial to address deeper layers of resistance."
Nick sipped the tea, feeling its warmth spread through him, soothing the raw edges of his psyche. "I saw him—Arlize. Not just memories or impressions, but... him. As a separate entity."
"A manifestation of the divided aspects of your consciousness," Maria explained. "As integration progresses, such distinct separation will fade. He will become less 'other' and more a natural extension of your own being."
The realization that had come to him in the chamber's void returned with greater clarity. "The resistance itself was the problem, wasn't it? Fighting against the integration only made it more difficult and uncomfortable."
"Precisely," Maria confirmed with a smile. "It is a principle as old as consciousness itself—what we resist, persists. What we accept, we can transform." She refilled his cup. "The same principle applies to mana manipulation. Rigid control creates friction; adaptable harmony creates flow."
As they talked, Nick's system continued to update, cataloging the changes in his condition:
He had crossed a threshold—not just in the percentage of integration but in the fundamental nature of his relationship with Arlize's essence. What had been a hostile takeover turned adversarial struggle now evolving into a collaborative synthesis.
Maria seemed to read his thoughts. "This is only the beginning, Nicolás. The path ahead remains challenging, but you've overcome perhaps the greatest obstacle there is to your growth—yourself."
As the sun set beyond the windows, casting the room in warm golden light, Nick felt a peace he hadn't experienced since before his parents' deaths. Not the absence of conflict, but the presence of a new kind of harmony.
The system's final notification of the day appeared in his peripheral vision:
🜂【ARCΛDIΛN SYSTΞM INTERFΛCE – NEW CAPABILITIES】🜂
Emotional Resonance [Basic]: Conscious perception of emotional influence on mana patterns
Trauma Channeling [Limited]: Conversion of emotional distress into usable mana energy
Recovery Protocol activated during sleep cycle - estimated efficiency: 83.7%
🜂【ARCΛDIΛN SYSTΞM INTERFΛCE – INTEGRATION UPDATE】🜂
Integration: 50.0% threshold achieved
Emotional Barrier Reduction: 37.4%
Core Harmony: Partial (self-sustaining)
Tier 2 abilities: Partial access granted
🜂【ARCΛDIΛN SYSTΞM INTERFΛCE – INTEGRATION MODEL】🜂
New Integration Model Calibrated: Acceptance Pathway Activated
Projected efficiency improvement: 37.8%
Estimated time to 60% integration: 7-10 days (REVISED)
This was progress.