"Is this world made of small Islands or are there bigger ones?" Elias Gobarau wants nothing but a normal life with his wife. Unfortunately, unforeseen forces have other plans for him as he was swallowed by space and found himself in a world of iceans filled with Islands. ***** Myriad Island is a world where intelligence, strength, fate, luck and even destiny means nothing. The only thing that can keep a sentient being sane was clinging to an ever-abstract concept known as Hope. Follow Elias's journey as he faces dangers of all kinds with the hope of understanding his purpose and possible union with his wife. ***** "Sigh, I left the life of chaos I was born in, how the hell did I end up somewhere worse? Or....is this Hell I was sent to for all the horrible things I was tasked to do?" ***** [Note: No Island is useless, only useless dweller that can't figure out it's usefulness!]
[Congratulations]
~Only 1 in a billion people can obtain a functioning Doppelganger.
____
[Mission 1, Doppelganger]
~Convince your Original to accept you.
[Reward]
~Permanent body
[Failure]
~Erasure
_____
[Mission 2, Doppelganger]
~Calmed your panicked Original
[Reward]
~Increase in Mental Fortitude
~More knowledge about the world of Fog.
[Failure]
~Original hysterical panic.
___
Helen read the missions and it made her understand that the so-called Doppelganger has her Interface and Missions.
Helen sighed as she couldn't help but be unfortunate that she erased her Doppelganger. It might be useful.
"Of course, I'm useful!"
Helen jumped back with fright, and shouted, "The demon can read my mind?"
"Oh my God. Am I this stupid"
Helen stared at the hazy Doppelganger with wariness but didn't say a thing.
"Okay, Melon Head. Think of yourself as a person that was Isekied to another world. And lucky you, I'm your Cheat! Send me places that are dangerous to get things done for you. Or in a fight, hide and I will fight for you. Essentially, I can't die unless you really want me to disappear!"
Seeing that Helen was not responding, the Doppelganger was irritated and said, "I read manga and watched anime before, right? You were Iskied without Truck-kun and I'm your cheat. Do I need to explain further?"
Helen was still silent. Then the two beauties stared at each other until Helen began to go through the information again and again.
She was still, in the denial stage.
"James, our husband, is here!"
"He is not your husband!" Helen struck back. But then they were silent before Helen summoned her courage and stammered, "Where is he?"
"How would I know! Perhaps he was somewhere in the Red Trial pissing his pants wet."
Helen shot a glare at her and that forced the Doppelganger to apologise. "I'm sorry, he isn't possing himself!" She said with a cheeky smile, 'At least, I got her attention.'
"You know things, I don't?" Helen asked silently. She was calming down faster and analyzing everything with a clear head.
"Yes, I do!"
"Why?"
"Because I'm somewhat connected with Fog. Think of me as the future you that has lived in the Fog for some time. And also, I'm directly connected with your Interface. So I understand the value in them better than you.
Another thing was, I know I'm just your mirage, but I have my Ego and Sense of Self. My character was completely driven by you. Even the smartness of tricking you into believing you have erased me was from you. So, get it together, you are smart, just a little disoriented."
Helen sighed, still not believing everything but still, she intended to go ahead with it.
"Red Trial? Where are we?"
"Green Trial!" She answered before she explained further;
"The Trials are divided into White, Green, Yellow, Red, and Black Trials. Our husband is on Red Trial. I don't know why, but the Fog whispered that to me so that I can use him to calm you down."
"Okay…!" Helen just nodded.
"If we wanted, maybe we may have a mission to find it to communicate with him. It's still confusing as the Fog whispers are… bizarre!"
After thinking further, "Why is he in Red...Trial?" Helen asked with a frown.
"Melon Head, I said, I don't know!"
"Collect the Mission for finding him!" Helen said.
"Well, First we need to become Islanders. Second, we need to conquer Islands and stand a chance to get the right Treasure for that!"
Helen eyed her Doppelganger warily thinking, all that talk was to entice her to do the devil's works. But the copy kept her cute smile as if oblivious of what her original was thinking.
"Okay! How do we become Islanders?"
"Unlocking of walls to augment our Platform so that we can capture suitable Islands... I will advise you now but don't blame me if things get sideways." Seeing Helen was just looking at her, she added, "To chance upon the best Platforms, we should buy Luck before the first step!"
Helen was about to check the Platform Shop, she was stopped by the Doppelganger.
"Wait! You accept me right?" Seeing no response she added, "I will dissipate without a permanent body."
The Doppelganger was still in Foggy form.
"I guess!"
Helen mumbled. The next moment an extreme headache struck her and she fainted. After some time she woke up with vigour and a slight headache.
"Welcome back sleepyhead. You see, accepting me means you are supporting me with your Mental Fortitude. Your Mind is amazing, many would have their brain frying. Okay, let's set a ground path, if your Mental Fortitude was below Outstanding we need to abandon the Luck Factor as it always comes with a catch. But we can patiently wait and you recover with time. As for the hunger, we are feeling, see if Benjamin can sell us food. And….don't tell them about me! That counter-intuitive!"
"For how long?" Helen asked
"How long?"
"I mean staying and recovering my Mental Health!" Helen elaborated
"Not Health, Fortitude. Well, as long as we can. Please trust me in this, we need a certain advantage that can give us a heads up. This Fog World is not peaceful and we will be facing uncertain dangers. Not to mention, at one point in time, we will not be protected by the Fog and by then we are on our own!"
"So, the Luck Factor will give us what type of advantage?"
"Chance to obtain a Semi-conscious Island. Elias has it too, !"
"Who is Elias?"
"Our husband, of course!"
*****
While the two cute girls discussed among themselves, Elias's identity was erased. Even the Fog considered him none existence. And Liquid Metal Island roamed the Second Trial like all other Myriad Islands.
Some Islanders of the same calibre as Elias have tried to merge with the Island but it ran away.
While also there were exceptional individuals that came and the Island showcased it desired to be chosen by them, but ultimately it was not chosen.
After a long time, two individuals were ready to merge with it; sadly, they realized the Island was Grade 2, Level 3. And Grade 1 can't merge with Grade 2 in their condition.
In the end, K'eon, the Living Metal as they call it, was lonely as it drifted endlessly amidst Myriad Islands!